LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two bombs exploded in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing at least 16 people, police and officials said.
Well over 500 people have been killed in Pakistan this yearin a campaign of suicide bombings that intensified after troopsstormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in July.
One of the bombs went off outside the city-centre FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA), badly damaging the multi-storeyoffice and nearby buildings, shortly after work hours began.
"We're trying to evacuate the wounded trapped under thedebris," FIA chief Tariq Pervez told Reuters from Islamabad.
Chaudhry Manzoor, the director of the agency, which focuseson illegal immigration and people smuggling, said 14 employeeshad been killed.
A second bomb went off in a mainly residentialneighbourhood, about 10 km (six miles) away, killing twochildren, said a city administrator, Mian Ejaz.
Police said the second attack was caused by a suicide carbomb. The car had two people inside and blew up after it wasstopped at the gate of an advertising agency office.
Last week a twin-suicide bombing killed five people in anattack on a navy college in the eastern city.
Pakistan has been battling Islamist militancy since joiningthe U.S.-led campaign against terrorism after the September 11,2001, attacks on the United States.
While much of the violence has taken place in remotenorthwestern regions, suicide attacks have taken place in allof Pakistan's major cities over the past year.
(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; additional reporting byZeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
