A suicide bomber has killed at least 63 people as they gathered to mourn a murdered journalist in Pakistan.
The devastating attack took place at a hospital in Quettain, in the violence-plagued southwestern province of Baluchistan.
The bomber struck as more than 100 grievers, mostly lawyers and journalists, crowded 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.
“There are many wounded, so the death toll could rise,” said Rehmat Saleh Baloch, the provincial health minister.
Television footage showed scenes of chaos, with panicked people fleeing through debris as smoke filled the hospital corridors.
The motive behind the attack was unclear and no group had yet claimed responsibility, but several lawyers have been targeted during a recent spate of killings in Quetta.
First responders and volunteers transport an injured man away from the scene of a bomb blast outside a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan
An injured man is carried from the scene of the atrocity
First responders and volunteers transport an injured man away from the scene of a bomb blast outside a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan
The blast took place at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan
Pakistani lawyers and local media personnel carry a bed to move the body of a news cameraman after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta
At least 93 people have been killed in the horrifying attack
Pakistani relatives mourn beside the body of a blast victim after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta
Relatives mourn beside the body of 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.
The subsequent suicide attack appeared to target his mourners, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Baluchistan government, said.
“It seems it was a pre-planned attack,” he said.
Police cordoned off the hospital following the blast.
Pakistani local journalists react over the body of a news cameraman after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quett
Pakistani journalists react after a news cameraman was killed in the explosion
Pakistani relatives mourn next to bodies of victims after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta
The attack took place at a government hospital
Pakistani soldiers comfort mourners after the death of victims in a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta
Soldiers try to comfort mourners following the bomb
Reuters Friends and relatives of victims grieve at the scene of a bomb blast outside a hospital in Quetta
Aside from a long-running separatist insurgency, and sectarian tensions, Baluchistan also suffers from rising crime.
Quetta has also long been regarded as a base for the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership has regularly held meetings there in the past.
In May, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed by a U.S. drone strike while travelling to Quetta from the Pakistan-Iran border.
Original Article:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pakistan-suicide-bomb-attack-leaves-8586796
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