Lahore:
A powerful blast ripped through a Shia procession in Pakistan's Punjab province today, killing at least 20 devotees and injuring more than 30 others, witnesses said.
The explosion targeted the procession marking the 'Chehlum' of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hazrat Imam Husain in Khanpur, 350 km from Lahore, this afternoon.
Witnesses said people ran helter-skelter when the blast went off as the procession was making its way to the Darbar Husain 'imambargah' or prayer hall in the centre of the town.
A journalist at the site of the blast told PTI that he had seen 15 bodies being brought to a hospital.
Officials said another five persons succumbed to their injuries at the same hospital.
Over 30 injured people were taken to hospitals in Khanpur and nearby Rahim Yar Khan, officials said.
"I was present some 300 metres from the site of explosion, which appeared to have been caused by a planted device," a witness named Abbas Raza said.
The impact of the blast was so powerful that he was thrown to the ground and could not recover his senses for several minutes, he said.
"Several people were lying in a pool of blood," Raza said.
Local residents took the injured to a nearby hospital before rescue teams reached the site, he said.
Geo News channel beamed dramatic footage that showed the blast going off as the procession made its way along a narrow street with residential buildings on both sides.
Men, women and children ran in panic as the explosion threw up a dense cloud of dust.
Members of the procession were seen crying and shouting slogans against the police and attackers after the blast.