And by attacking the entrance to a hospital emergency room those responsible took their rightful place on the lowest rung of humanity’s ladder.
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Earlier on Monday, the body of a prominent Quetta lawyer had been brought to the government-run hospital.
As one attorney pointed out on Twitter, the loss of dozens of experienced lawyers in this region of Pakistan will have a much larger impact.
A bomb disposal squad said the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber who was carrying an estimated eight to 10 kg of explosive materials in his vest.
Nation is in mourning today a day after suicide blast in Civil Hospital claimed 70 lives, mostly lawyers and a couple of media persons among 112 wounded, reported Tuesday.
The latest victim, Bilal Anwar Kasi, was shot and killed while on his way to the city’s main court complex, senior police official Nadeem Shah told Reuters. When he looked up, Rehman said he saw bodies of the dead and the wounding crying out for help.
“Our hearts go out to the families and other loved ones of more than 60 killed and we wish a speedy recovery to the dozens more injured”.
Sanaullah Zehri, chief minister in Baluchistan province, said both the bombing and Kasi’s slaying seemed to be part of a plot to disrupt peace in the provincial capital.
Television footage showed scenes of chaos, with panicked people fleeing through the debris as smoke filled the hospital corridors.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (L, center) and Pakistan’s army Chief Raheel Sharif (R, center) visit a man who was injured in the hospital bomb blast at an army hospital in southwest Pakistan’s Quetta, on August 8, 2016. Sharif asked the local authorities to maintain utmost vigilance and beef up security in Quetta.
Legendary Pakistan cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan also expressed his dismay at the attack on a hospital. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting in Quetta yesterday and ordered all state security institutions to respond with full might to eliminate terrorists.
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Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a provincial spokesman, said, “Our resolve is strong to fight terrorism and terrorists and the government is clear such cowardly attacks will not stop us from continuing the operation against militants in the province”. Pakistan is grimly accustomed to atrocities after a almost decade-long insurgency.
