Attackers armed with assault rifles and hand grenades Monday struck a police training academy in eastern Pakistan near the Wagah border with India triggering a shootout that killed more than 20 policemen, including eight officers and injured 30 others, reports say.
Donning police uniforms, the gunmen believed to be around 10-14 in number stormed the complex at Manawan on the outskirts of Lahore--Pakistan's second largest city and capital of wheat-bowl Punjab province which also country's political nerve center--around 7 a.m., opening indiscriminate fire and lobbing grenades when the policemen were carrying out morning drills in the premises.
Witnesses and TV channels said that a series of more than five blasts were heard at the training centre followed by an exchange of fire between the attackers and policemen that were continuing even after three hours. Bodies of policemen lay strewn on the ground and more casualties were feared. Dozens of police were also seen scaling a wall to escape from within the center. Most of the casualties occurred near the entrance to the center.
The attack came barely a month after the audacious strike on Sri Lankan cricketers in the city that left eight persons dead and 20 injured.
The attack once again underscored the growing threat of militancy to nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is under pressure from the U.S. to battle al-Qaida and Taliban militants on its soil. Most of the militant violence has occurred along Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan, but its eastern front has not escaped, with Lahore witnessing some brazen assaults in recent times.
No group has claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, but the earlier assault on the Sri Lankan team--which featured heavily armed, backpack-toting gunmen besieging a populated area--bore similarities to last November's siege of the Indian city of Mumbai.
India has blamed the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for that assault, and Pakistan has taken several of the outfit's alleged leaders into custody. LeT, which is largely based in eastern Punjab province, has denied involvement in either Mumbai or the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team attack.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.