At least 55 persons, including three Pakistan Rangers personnel and a child, were killed and 200 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near Wagah in Lahore today, minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at the main India-Pakistan land border crossing.

Punjab police chief Mushtaq Sukhera said the suicide bomber, believed to be 18 to 20 years old, targeted a large crowd that had come to watch the weekly parade and the flag-lowering ceremony. The attacker approached one of the exit gates as the crowd was vacating the parade area and blew himself up, he said, adding, three Pakistan Rangers personnel were also among the dead.

The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals and an emergency was declared at all hospitals in Lahore.

“Up to five kilograms of explosive material was used in the blast that took place outside a restaurant near a Pakistani paramilitary soldiers’ checkpoint at Wagah border,” Sukhera added. Police, rescue officials and Rangers cordoned off the blast site. TV footages showed shops and nearby buildings destroyed at the site of the blast.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast and ordered authorities to provide best medical assistance to the injured.

There were conflicting claims of responsibility for the attack, reflecting the division within the umbrella group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Abdullah Bahar, a spokesman for a TTP faction loyal to its dead chief Hakimullah Mehsud, said they carried it out to avenge Mehsud’s killing in a US drone strike last year.

But the Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction, which broke away from the main TTP leadership in September, rubbished the claim by Jundullah faction and said they carried out the blast.

Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, in a statement, said the terrorists couldn’t dent the resolve of the nation to fight terrorism, Radio Pakistan reported.

In the wake of Muharram, the police had made strict security measures. “We had reports that some banned outfits might target Shias, religious personalities, public processions and important buildings,” Sukhera said.

With agency inputs