news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_a...288953.stm

At least 15 people have been killed in two explosions in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, police say.

The majority of the victims died in a blast that hit an office of the federal police, reports say.

A second explosion happened in a residential area and killed two children, according to the police.

Shortly after the blasts, the Australian cricket team announced the cancellation of their forthcoming tour to Pakistan over security fears.

State-run television showed pictures from Lahore of a damaged multi-storeyed building, charred vehicles and uprooted trees at the site of the blast near the federal police office.

The police said the first explosion hit the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at 0925 local time in Lahore.

FIA official Mirza Mohammed Yasin told reporters that it was caused by a bomb planted near a lift inside the building.

'Raging fire'

"The building is badly damaged. Fire is raging," witness Tariq Saeed told Reuters news agency.

Lahore map

"Bodies are being taken out of the building. I have seen five," he said.

Some 200 to 300 people are said to work in the building, and the number of casualties is expected to rise, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad.

The cause of the second explosion was not immediately known.

Last week, four people were killed and 14 injured in a suicide bombing at a naval college in Lahore.

Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, has not been a frequent target, although 19 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack near the High Court in January.

Pakistan's government has been fighting an Islamist insurgency in its northern provinces and its major cities, and the military is frequently targeted by bombers.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi in December.