LAHORE - The car bomb blast that killed 40 people in Lahore Wednesday was an attempt by militants to “destabilise” the nation as they are facing defeat in the country’s northwest, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.

Malik told reporters in Karachi that terrorists want to destabilise the country as “they are facing defeat in Swat and FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)”.

He said after the militants faced defeat in the country’s northwestern region, militants were “dispersing in the cities”.

The Pakistani military went into action April 26 after the Taliban violated a controversial peace accord with the North West Frontier Province and moved south from their Swat headquarters to occupy Buner, which is just 100 km from Islamabad.

Malik said investigations into the Lahore blast were underway. He warned militants to lay down their arms otherwise they would be eradicated.

On Wednesday morning, a massive car bomb exploded outside a building in the busy Civil Lines area.

The car bomb, which packed about 100 kg of explosives, went off just outside the three-storeyed Rescue-15 Building that collapsed with the impact of the blast.

The building that housed emergency police is located close to the provincial headquarters of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Two suspects were arrested and helicopters could be seen hovering over the area as troops took positions on the rooftops of the nearby buildings.