Police cordoned off the hospital following the blast. More than 100 were wounded, officials said.
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The motive behind the attack was unclear and no group has yet claimed responsibility.
“This brutal and senseless attack on civilians, so many of them lawyers working to bring justice to their country, will not undermine one of the most important pillars of Pakistan’s democracy and civil society”, said American Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale in a statement.
The Pakistan Bar Association condemned the attack and announced a three-day mourning. Numerous dead were in black suits, the lawyers dress.
Another witness, lawyer Abdul Latif, said he had just arrived at the hospital to express his grief over Kasi’s killing, and was horrified to “see the bodies of dozens of other lawyers” lying in pools of blood on the floor.
Baluchistan Bar Association president Mr Kasi was shot dead on his way to his office earlier in the day.
Witnesses described horrifying scenes of bodies scattered on the ground the wounded screaming out for help.
Waliur Rehman says he was taking his ailing father to the hospital’s emergency ward when the explosion shook the building on Monday.
One of the wounded, Pervez Masi, told AFP that the explosion was so powerful and disorienting that “we didn’t know what had happened”.
An AFP journalist was about 20 metres away when the bomb went off.
Kasi was on his way to work.
Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani on Monday offered condolence to his Pakistani counterpart Lieutenant General Nasir Khan Janjua on terrorist bombing in Quetta, Pakistan.
Noor Ahmed, the hospital’s deputy chief surgeon for victims of violent crime, said they were treating about 50 wounded in the bombing. The IS earlier claimed an attack on Pakistan’s consulate in the Afghan city of Jalalabad in January this year that killed seven people.
Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, which has always been hit by insurgency.
The blast came after mourners including journalists and lawyers gathered at the hospital following the fatal shooting of a senior local lawyer, officials said.
Sanaullah Zehri, the chief minister in Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital, says it seemed to be a suicide attack but that the police are still investing.
The post Suicide bomber kills at least 63 people outside a hospital in Pakistan appeared first on PBS NewsHour. Sharif asked the local authorities to maintain utmost vigilance and beef up security in Quetta.
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He said a state of emergency has been declared in all hospitals of the city to ensure the best possible medical treatment for the injured.
