UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sharply condemned Wednesday's deadly bombing in the Pakistani city of Lahore, his office said in a statement.

'The Secretary General strongly condemns the bombing today in Lahore, Pakistan, in which some 30 people were reported killed and 250 wounded,' the UN statement said, adding 'no cause can justify such indiscriminate terrorist violence.'

The blast - the third deadly attack to rock the country's liberal cultural capital in as many months - points to widening Islamist violence, which has killed more than 1,800 people across Pakistan in less than two years.

Three attackers opened fire and threw a grenade before a van packed with explosives blew up close to the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's top intelligence agency, Pakistani investigators said. -- AFP