Blast near Pakistan intelligence office

A bomb exploded near an intelligence office in the central Pakistani city of Multan today, police said.

Police official Mohammad Qasim said casualties were feared in the blast.

Militant attacks have bedevilled Pakistan over the past two months as Islamist extremists retaliate against an anti-Taliban army offensive in the country’s north-west near the Afghan border.

This is the first time Multan has been hit during a surge of violence which began in October and has already killed more than 400 people.