LAHORE // A Taliban suicide attack killed at least 55 people and left more than 120 wounded on Sunday at the main Pakistan-India border crossing.
The bomber hit as crowds were leaving the Wagah border gate, near Lahore, after the daily “flag-lowering” ceremony.
The display of military pageantry attracts thousands of spectators and is popular with foreign tourists.
Live TV footage showed people drenched in blood and crying in pain as they were evacuated to hospitals.
At the hospitals, relatives of the dead cried and beat their chests and heads. “My brothers, my two brothers,” private Geo News TV showed a man wailing. “They both are dead.”
The attack was a rare strike in Punjab, Pakistan’s richest and most populous province, which has been spared the worst of the bloody wave of Islamist violence that has assailed the country in recent years.
The attack was carried out in response to the Pakistani army’s operation against Taliban militants in the tribal areas straddling the Afghan border, said Taliban commander Gilamn Mehsud.
At least 120 were wounded in the blast.
Lahore police chief Amin Wains confirmed it was a suicide attack.
“People were returning after watching the parade at Wagah border when the blast took place. Ball bearings were found at the scene,” he said.
As many as 8,000 gather on both sides at Wagah each sunset to see the display of military pageantry that accompanies the formal closing of the border post.
It appears the blast took place some distance from the border itself.
Tahir Javed, Punjab provincial commander of the paramilitary force that guards the post, said three of his men were killed.
“The suicide bomber failed to cross the security barrier and blew himself up outside when people were coming out,” he said.
There are several security checkpoints on the road leading to the border post, which is equipped with a ceremonial gate and banked seating, and spectators are frisked before entering, though such searches are not always particularly rigorous.
Taliban attacks, once a near-daily occurrence in Pakistan, have tailed off since the army launched a major offensive in the north-west.
In June the army began a long-awaited operation against militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal area, after a bloody raid on Karachi Airport ended faltering peace talks between the government and the Taliban.
More than 1,100 militants and 100 soldiers have been killed since the start of the operation and more than 100 militants have surrendered, according to the military.
The Pakistani authorities have also said they are becoming concerned about the possible spread of the influence of ISIL group, which has declared a “caliphate” in parts of Iraq and Syria.
As well as being one of Pakistan’s few tourist attractions, Wagah is also the main land crossing with India and much of their trade transits through it.
Ashok Kumar, inspector general of India’s Border Security Force, said the blast took place 500 metres from the Wagah border.
“Our side is safe, we are alert, have increased our security, we are in constant touch with district officials and state police,” Mr Kumar said.
The attack comes amid heightened tensions between the countries after a resurgence of cross-border shelling along the disputed frontier in Kashmir.
It also comes with Pakistan on high security alert for the festival of Ashura, which is marked by minority Shiites with mourning processions that are potential targets for sectarian militants.
* Agence France-Presse with additional reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg