FOUR provincial capitals and four explosions which claimed 12 lives and injured upwards of 75 people that`s what transpired on Thursday as militants spent a rather busy day.

They dealt the heaviest blow in Quetta where they snuffed out eight lives. More than 60 people were injured when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded in a market and near a police station. In Karachi, three suspected militants lost their own lives when they mishandled an explosive device they were carrying on a motorbike. Lahore, which haslately been spared terrorist attacks, provided the setting for the third blast. One man was killed there when an explosive device placed in a food outlet in Anarkali bazaar went off. Some 17 people were injured. Peshawar which for long has been in the crosshairs of the militants and has frequently been buffeted by attacks witnessed another explosion. This time, thankfully, no one was killed. But three law-enforcement personnel were injured when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device.