Pakistani authorities yesterday hunted for breakaway Taliban militants who once declared loyalty to the Islamic State after the group claimed responsibility for an Easter suicide bomb targeting Christians that killed at least 70 people.
The attack on Sunday evening in a busy park in the eastern city of Lahore, the powerbase of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, killed mostly women and children enjoying an Easter weekend outing. Pakistan is a majority-Muslim state, but has a Christian population of more than 2 million.
It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since the December 2014 massacre of 134 school children at a military-run academy in the city of Peshawar that prompted a big government crackdown on Muslim militancy.
Photo: Reuters
“We must bring the killers of our innocent brothers, sisters and children to justice and will never allow these savage inhumans to over-run our life and liberty,” Pakistan military spokesman Asim Bajwa said on Twitter.
The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack late on Sunday night and issued a direct challenge to the government.
“The target was Christians,” Jamaat-ul-Ahrar spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said. “We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore.”
Lahore is the capital of Punjab Province, which is Pakistan’s richest and is seen as the nation’s political and cultural heartland.
Sharif’s office condemned the blast as a cowardly act and said a response had been ordered, without elaborating.
Lahore markets, schools and courts were closed yesterday as the city mourned.
Pakistani rescue services spokeswoman Deeba Shahnaz said at least 70 people were killed and about 340 were wounded, with 25 in critical condition.
The group has claimed responsibility for several big attacks after it split with the main Pakistani Taliban in 2014.
It declared allegiance to the Islamic State group, but later said it was rejoining the Pakistani Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan has been plagued by militant violence for the past 15 years, since it joined a US-led campaign against Muslim militancy after the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks on the US.
While the army, police, government and Western interests have been the prime targets of the Pakistani Taliban and their allies, Christians and other religious minorities have also been attacked.
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