In the second blast that occurred almost simultaneously in the posh Model Town residential area, two suicide bombers drove a pick-up truck into the compound of a house that had been rented by an advertising agency and blew themselves up.

Reports said the suicide bombers might have mistakenly hit the house as their real target could have been the nearby residence of an army officer or Bilawal House, the residence of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Besides the bombers, the blast killed two children of the gardener who worked at the house.

Several hours after the twin car bombings, four persons were killed and three others injured by unidentified gunmen who sprayed bullets at a coach of the Badar Express that was coming into the city from Faisalabad. The assailants fled after the attack

Australia scraps tour, Musharraf agrees to call Parliament on Monday

• Australia on Tuesday scrapped its cricket tour of Pakistan, barely a few hours after the twin blasts rocked Lahore. “This was a difficult decision based on independent review of the circumstances prevailing in Pakistan,” CA chairman Creagh O’Connor said

• Setting the stage for a showdown with the Opposition, Musharraf summoned the first meeting of the new Parliament on March 17. This comes after PPP and PML-N agreed on a coalition government