At least 70 people killed in blast and scores wounded as suicide bomber targets gathering of lawyers in emergency room.
Pakistani Taliban faction has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at the accident and emergency department of a hospital in Pakistan’s Quetta that has killed at least 70 people.
The attack targeted a group of mourning lawyers on Monday who were gathered to accompany the body of a murdered colleague.
“The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ur-Ahrar takes responsibility for this attack, and pledges to continue carrying out such attacks. We will release a video report on this soon,” the group’s spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in an email.
Many of the dead appeared to be wearing black suits and ties.
Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti said: “The blast occurred after a number of lawyers and some journalists had gathered at the hospital following the death of the president of the Balochistan Bar Association in a separate shooting incident early this morning.”
One cannot even imagine anyone stooping as low as to target a hospital… Only those bereft of humanity can do that …
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 8, 2016
The lawyers were at the unit because earlier in the day armed men, who are still unidentified, had shot Bilal Anwar Kasi, reports said.
Kasi, who later died from his injuries, was the former president of the Balochistan Bar Association. He had been on his way to work when he was attacked.
Several people were wounded as they rushed to leave the hospital, Dawn reported.
Pakistani media said that journalists were among those wounded, with at least two cameramen killed. One cameraman was named by local media as Aaj TV’s Shehzad Khan.
The other was Mehmood Khan of Dawn. His colleague Sumaira Jajja wrote on Twitter that Khan, a father of seven children, started out as a security guard before joining Dawn as an officer worker to then become a cameraman. He had planned to do a master’s degree in journalism.
Condemnable cowardly terrorists strike Quetta targeting bar president then civil hospital. Even in war hospitals not delib targeted.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 8, 2016
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has oil and gas resources and is afflicted by fighting, violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and a separatist rebellion.
“The attack took place at the main gate to the emergency area,” said Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad.
“Importantly, this happened after the president of the Quetta bar was gunned down,” he said. “There are big questions after this security lapse. There is a very heavy death toll and most killed today are people belonging to the legal fraternity.”
Hyder said an attack took place at the same hospital in 2010.
“In the next few hours, we are expecting that some group or another may take responsibility,” he said. “After any targeted killing in Quetta, there is a tendency that whenever there is a crowd, they will be vulnerable. Security has been tightened [but now] the legal fraternity will want more protection.”
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| Several people were wounded as they tried to escape the scene of the blast [Saadullah Akhter/Al Jazeera] |
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| Lawyers were among those struck in the blast hours after former Balochistan Bar President Bilal Anwar Kasi was killed [Al Jazeera] |
