Advertisement

At least 70 dead after suicide bombing in Pakistani hospital

Pakistani civil society activists light candles to pay tribute to victims of the Quetta bombing.

Pakistani civil society activists light candles to pay tribute to victims of the Quetta bombing. Photo: AAP/Mohammad Sajjad

A suicide bomber in Pakistan has killed at least 70 people and wounded more than a hundred in an attack on mourners gathered at a hospital in Quetta.

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Islamist militant Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif talks to a survivor of the hospital bombing. Photo: AP/Arshad Butt

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif talks to a survivor of the hospital bombing. Photo: AP/Arshad Butt

The bomber struck on Monday 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.

Provincial health minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch said there were so many wounded that the death toll could rise.

It was not immediately clear if Jamaat-ur-Ahrar had in fact carried out the bombing, as it is believed to have claimed responsibility for attacks in the past that it was not involved in.

 

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.