"Four persons including three women died and more than a dozen people were injured by lightning," Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, senior medical officer in Leiah district told AFP.

The four were struck by lightning on Tuesday night, said Leiah police officer Shehzad Sultan.

Leiah lies in central Punjab province 360 kilometers (223 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

The storm brought down telephone lines and uprooted power poles and trees, injuring another 12 people, plunging swathes of Leiah into darkness, and destroyed crops, he said.

Pakistan is on the cusp of its annual monsoon season.

TERRA.WIRE