The bomber struck as a crowd of mostly lawyers and journalists crammed into the emergency department to accompany the body of a prominent lawyer who had been shot and killed in the city earlier in the day, Faridullah, a reporter who was among the wounded, told Reuters.
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It was also unknown who was behind the killing of the lawyer, Bilal Kasi, who was gunned down on his way to court earlier in the day.
A bomb disposal squad said the suicide bomber had around 10 kg of explosives hidden in his vest, Xinhua news agency said.
The attack is an attempt to undermine the improved security situation of Balochistan, and the effort is specially targeting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said.
Police cordoned off the hospital following the blast, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif paying visits to the wounded on Monday evening. Several lawyers including the former president of Balochistan Bar Association Baz Mohammad Kakar were reported injured.
Nurses and lawyers wept as medics from inside the hospital rushed out to help dozens of injured, he said. Afridi said most of the dead were lawyers.
It was the worst terrorist attack in Pakistan this year since the March 27 bombing at Gulshan-e-Iqbal park in Lahore that left 75 people dead.
Pakistani police say a suicide bomber carried out the attack at the government-run hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta that killed 53 people and wounded dozens.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri said the blast seemed to be a suicide attack, but police were still investigating.
He described the attack as an “act of terrorism”.
“No one will be allowed to disturb peace in the province that has been restored due to countless sacrifices of security forces, police and the people of Balochistan”, he said in a statement.
Local TV stations broadcast footage showing people running in panic around the hospital grounds.
Pakistan’s prime minister has denounced the huge bombing that struck a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing 30.
Quetta and the rest of Baluchistan province have always been hit by insurgency. There are several ethnic Baluch separatist groups operating in the resource-rich province, but al-Qaida, the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups also have a presence here. The provincial government has declared three days of mourning over the tragedy while the lawyers body has announced a countrywide strike for tomorrow.
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“We (lawyers) have been targeted because we always raise our voice for people’s rights and for democracy.Lawyers will not just protest this attack but also prepare a long-term plan of action”. Later, political parties joined the campaign and Musharraf was ultimately forced to resign in 2008 and Chaudhry was reinstated.
