Both the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) have claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at a hospital in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Tuesday, which killed at least 70 people and injured some 120 more.
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The blast occurred shortly after dozens of lawyers gathered in Quetta’s Civil Hospital to protest and mourn the killing of their provincial bar association’s president in an early morning drive-by shooting by unknown gunmen.
According to an Al Jazeera reporter in Pakistan, the attack was carried out by a “suicide” bomber.
“Deliberately attacking people gathered at a hospital to grieve for Mr Kasi underscores the inhumanity and moral bankruptcy of those who planned and perpetrated it”, Prove said. “What kind of weak and despicable people are they, targeting a hospital where there are children and patients?”
One more victim succumbed to injuries overnight, bringing the death toll from the bombing in the south-western city to 71, said doctor Abdul Rehman, the head of the clinic that was bombed.
“The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ur-Ahrar (TTP-JA) takes responsibility for this attack, and pledges to continue carrying out such attacks”, said spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan in a statement. “Baluchistan has witnessed a number of terrorist attacks in the last 12 years, most of which targeted the Shiite community of the province”. If confirmed, that would be a first for the group in Pakistan – though the claim may be related to the fact that in the past, the Jamaat-ul Ahrar splinter group has expressed support for the Islamic State.
Television footage showed scenes of chaos, with panicked people fleeing through the debris as smoke filled the hospital corridors.
The motive behind bombing is unclear, but several lawyers were targeted and killed during attack in Quetta, the regional capital of Baluchistan, which has a history of militant and nationalist violence. Police said it was a suicide attack where eight kilogrammes of explosives were used. “No one will be allowed to disturb the peace in the province that has been restored thanks to the countless sacrifices by the security forces, police and the people of Baluchistan”, Sharif said in a statement and asked authorities to maintain vigilance and beef up security in Quetta.
Quetta and the rest of Baluchistan province have always been hit by insurgency.
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For more than a decade, Baluchistan, a rugged and resource-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, has been wracked by a separatist war, ethnic and sectarian violence, and militant intrigue.
