2009 Dera Ghazi Khan bombing

On 15 December 2009, at around 2:45 pm local time, a car bomb exploded in a market in Dera Ghazi Khan, a city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. At least 33 people were reported killed and 50 more injured in the blast. Investigators estimated that approximately 1,000 kg of explosives had been used in the attack.

The bomb detonated in front of the main gate of the house belonging to Zulfiqar Ali Khosa, a senior adviser to the chief minister of Punjab and a politician with the Pakistan Muslim League (N). Khosa was not at home at the time and was not injured. Notably, Khosa had recently presided over a meeting of religious leaders that had issued a declaration calling suicide bombing un-Islamic. The force of the explosion caused the surrounding market to collapse, trapping people in the rubble.

In the aftermath, Hassan Iqbal, the local town commissioner, stated that many people were trapped in the rubble after the "powerful blast demolished some 10 shops," and that rescue work was underway with fears that the death toll could rise further. Forty-six injured people were taken to the local hospital, while seven who were critically wounded were transferred to a hospital in the nearby city of Multan for further treatment.

In response to the bombing, the chief minister of Punjab announced financial compensation for those affected: families of those killed were to receive Rs 500,000, those with serious injuries were to receive Rs 75,000, and those with minor injuries were to receive Rs 50,000.