As many as 70 people have been killed and over 100 others are injured, Balochistan government spokesman Anwarul Haq said.
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday condemned the terrorist attack at a hospital in Pakistan’s southwestern Quetta city, calling the attack “particularly appalling”, the attack killed 70 people, mostly lawyers.
But in what was likely an opportunistic statement, the Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack later on Monday.
By March 2015, however, the group was again swearing loyalty to the main Pakistani Taliban umbrella leadership.
Country s top lawyers said that they would boycott court proceedings throughout much of the country today in protest. Two journalists working for Pakistani news channels were also killed in the attack, according to Shahzada Zulfiqar, the President of the Quetta Press Club.
Bilal Kasi, who was head of the Balochistan province bar association, had earlier been shot while on his way to the court complex in Quetta. Several ethnic Baluch separatist groups operate in the resource-rich province, as well as al-Qaida, the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups. Flags on government buildings flew at half staff in major cities of Pakistan, including Quetta.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives’ vest amid the gathering, and survivors later described scenes of panic as the blast ripped through the emergency room.
Senior police officer Zahoor Ahmed Afridi said a suicide bomber struck shortly after Mr Kasi’s body was brought in, adding that the two attacks appeared to be linked. He said they were also treating 92 wounded in the explosion. “Lawyers and journalists are targeted like this”.
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 people. The insurgents have claimed a number of murders and bombings in recent months. Baluchistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri agreed with that analysis.
It also claimed responsibility for Pakistan’s deadliest blast so far this year – the Lahore Easter bombing, which killed 75.
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“The commission and the Catholic Church stand firmly with the people of Balochistan in this hour” and ask the government “to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice”, said the Church statement signed by justice and peace officials, including Bishop Joseph Arshad of Faisalabad.
