Events in Pakistan are moving at a chaotic speed. The army claims it is making steady progress in re-taking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, though the main reports are from the army itself so it’s hard to know. Over one million refugees have streamed out of the area making it clear that fear is thick. This afternoon an enormous car bomb was set off in Lahore with the evident target being the ISI building of the Pakistani Intelligence Service — which has been a prime supporter of Taliban activities up to now.

Lahore, in Punjab province near the Indian border, is known as Pakistan’s cultural capital and is far from the Swat valley.

But in March militants laid siege to a police compound in the city, killing eight people, and weeks earlier the Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked there.

The BBC’s Shoaib Hasan, in Pakistan, says Lahore is facing a sustained campaign of violence unlike any it has seen before.

He says security officials believe the city is under attack because it is seen as a stable home for Pakistan’s Punjab-dominated army.

BBC