AKIPRESS.COM - At least nine people were killed and 20 wounded late Wednesday when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a police check-post in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, AFP reported citing officials.

The attack took place in the suburb of Raiwind in Lahore, the main town of central Punjab province, near a mosque hosting a religious congregation of some 60,000 people.

"At least nine people, which included five police and four civilians, have been killed.... Circumstances show it was a suicide attack," Haider Ashraf, a senior police official in Lahore, told reporters.

At least 20 people were wounded in the attack which targeted the police check-post, he said.

Jam Sajjad, a spokesman for the emergency services, confirmed the death toll.

Punjab's chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said: "The martyred policemen are our heroes. Their sacrifices will not go in vain".

The bombing was claimed by the outlawed Tehreek–e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group in a statement sent to AFP, in which the jihadists threatened more attacks on police in retaliation for killing their "associates" in Punjab.