An explosion killed at least 20 people and injured dozens in a busy vegetable market in the Pakistani city of Lahore Monday, officials said, but the cause of the blast was not immediately clear. 


"(The explosion) seems like a suicide blast targeting police, but we are still ascertaining the nature of the explosion," the city's commissioner Abdullah Khan Sumbul said. 


He told AFP at least 20 people had been killed and 35 wounded. 


Meanwhile a spokesman for the Lahore police, Syed Hammad Shah, put the toll at 25 dead with 40 injured. 


Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan warned the toll could rise in a press conference held minutes after the attack. 


Most of the casualties were police officers and some bystanders, he said. 


"It is not yet confirmed if it is an incident of terrorism or an accidental explosion," the interior minister added. 


Provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah also said the nature of the blast was not confirmed, but said it had appeared to target a vegetable market crowded with shoppers. 


Lahore has been hit by significant militant attacks in Pakistan's more than decade-long war on extremism, but they have been less frequent in recent years

Source: NNA