Blast targeting Pakistan protest kills 13 and injures 58

Police and security officers cordon off the site of the bombing. Credit: AP

A suicide bombing has ripped through a protest rally in Pakistan, killing at least 13 people and wounding 58.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Taliban breakaway faction, have claimed responsibility for the bombing in Lahore in the east of the country.

A local police official said the bombing targeted a group of police escorting hundreds of pharmacists who were protesting over new amendments to a law governing drug sales.

Zaheer Abbas continued that six police officers, including a former provincial counter-terrorism chief, were among those killed.

Nine of the injured are reported to be in critical conditions.

Police and security officers guard the area. Credit: AP

Live TV registered a loud bang and showed smoke and fire billowing up as people ran away, some of them carrying the wounded.

"We just couldn't understand what happened," Tufail Nabi - a witness at the scene - told local media.

"It was as if some big building collapsed," he added.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed the attack in a text message, saying it was revenge for Pakistani military operations against Islamic militants in tribal regions along the Afghan border.