NEW DELHI: A powerful car bomb exploded outside the house of banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, in the BOR Society in Jauhar Town area of Lahore, reportedly killing at least three people and injuring over 21 others.

Although it is not immediately clear if the blast was by a suicide bomber or if it was triggered by a controlled device, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) the crime investigation department of the Lahore police department has taken over the investigating and are exploring all angles.

Visuals on the Pakistani news channel show that several structures around the blast site including some vehicles including two cars, a rickshaw and motorcycles parked nearby were completely destroyed by the blast. The sound of the blast was so loud that it damaged the windowpanes of houses in the area.

According to local media, those injured include children and police officers some of whom are said to be in critical condition.

The Inspector-General of Police (Punjab) Inam Ghani is quoted as saying that the blast took place at a police picket outside Saeed's residence at the BOR Society around 11 am, resulting in serious injuries to some police officers guarding his house. 

Ghani said that, had there been no police picket outside Saeed's house there could have been a 'major loss' of a 'high-value target' like Saeed. "Explosive material was installed in the car. There was a police picket outside the high-value target’s house. The car could not cross the police picket,"  Ghani said.

71-year-old Saeed is an UN-designated terrorist and has a US$ 10 million bounty on his capture. The US Department of the Treasury has designated him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. 

Although he is supposed to be serving a jail sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore for his conviction in terror financing cases having convicted for 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases, it is believed that he could have been in his house during the blast. 

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.