DUSHANBE, March 28, 2016, Asia-Plus – International media outlets report that a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on Easter Sunday, saying it intentionally targeted Christians.
The suicide blast in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore killed at least 69 people, a local government spokesman told
CNN
.
More than 412 others were injured, according to Punjab government spokesperson Jehangir Awan.
The explosion ripped through the heart of Lahore on Sunday evening, at a time when many families were at the city”s Gulshan Iqbal Park to celebrate the Easter holiday. Many women and children were among the victims.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban known as Jamat-ul-Ahrar vowed such attacks would continue.
Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast.
Protests reportedly erupted again Sunday, almost a month after a former bodyguard who assassinated a moderate politician was executed. Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged in a Rawalpindi prison February 29, five years after being found guilty of shooting and killing Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer.
The governor had spoken out against the blasphemy law that makes insulting Islam a crime punishable by death.
CNN
says that according to local media reports, as many as 10,000 demonstrators gathered in the capital, Islamabad, Friday, praising Qadri and demanding changes to Pakistan”s laws, including the adoption of Sharia law.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Sharif on Sunday to express his grief over the bombing. The Indian leader expressed solidarity with Pakistan, the Pakistani state-run news agency reported. “Modi said coward terrorists had targeted females and kids which was highly condemnable and regrettable,” according to the state-run agency, the
Associated Press of Pakistan
.
The United States and Australian governments also condemned the attack.
“This cowardly act in what has long been a scenic and placid park has killed dozens of innocent civilians and left scores injured,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop echoed the sentiment. “As Christians worldwide celebrate Easter, a shocking terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan, reminds us that terrorism is a global scourge,” she said Monday. “The Australian Government condemns this horrific act that has killed dozens of civilians, including children, and expresses our condolences to the people of Pakistan and its government at this time.”
