This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/27/dozens-killed-in-blast-outside-lahore-park-pakistan

The article has changed 20 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 5 Version 6
Scores killed in explosion near family park in Lahore Scores killed in blast at family park in Lahore aimed at Christians
(35 minutes later)
More than 60 people have been killed in an explosion at a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore, rescue officials have said. The blast in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal park on Sunday, which police believe to be a suicide bombing, happened just outside the exit gate and feet away from a children’s play area. According to Khawaja Salman Rafique, the health adviser for Punjab province, most of the dead and injured are women and children. At least 60 people have been killed and more than 280 injured, most of them women and children, in an apparent suicide bombing directed at local Christians at a park in Lahore.
A spokesman for the Punjab government said the attack had killed 60 people and injured 300. Zaeem Qadri added that the chief minister of Punjab province, Shahbaz Sharif, had announced three days of mourning and pledged to ensure that those involved in the attack were brought to trial. The explosion took place in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal park in the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province, a few feet away from children’s swings.
A senior local police officer, Haider Ashraf, said the explosion appeared to have been a suicide bombing, but that investigations were ongoing. The area was crowded with Christians celebrating the Easter holidays, but Lahore district government official Mohammad Usman said he believed the park was struck because it is a “soft target” and not because of the Christian celebrations. Senior police officer Haider Ashraf said the area was crowded because Christians were celebrating the Easter holiday and many families were leaving the park when the blast occurred. He said the explosion appeared to have been a suicide bombing but investigations were continuing.
The blast happened in prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s political heartland of Punjab. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 190 million people, has been plagued by a Taliban insurgency, criminal gangs and sectarian violence. Punjab is its biggest and wealthiest province. A Pakistani Taliban faction, Jamaat ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility and said Christians were the target.
In 2014, Pakistan launched an offensive against the Taliban and affiliated fighters in North Waziristan, in a bid to destroy safe havens from which jihadis could launch attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The target were Christians,” a spokesman for the faction, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told Reuters. “We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won’t be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks.”
Punjab has traditionally been more peaceful than other parts of Pakistan. Sharif’s opponents have accused him of tolerating militancy in return for peace in his province, a charge that he strongly denies. Last year, however, a bomb in a popular Pakistani provincial minister’s home in Punjab was detonated, killing him and at least eight others. Three days of mourning have been declared by the chief minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif, according to Zaeem Qadri, a spokesman for the province’s government. Sharif pledged to ensure that those involved in the attack would be brought to trial, Associated Press reported.
Ashraf said the park was manned by police guards and private security guards. “We are in a warlike situation and there is always a general threat, but no specific threat alert was received for this place,” he said.
Salman Rafiq, an adviser to Sharif, put the death toll at 60 and said many of the wounded were in a critical condition. Other reports on Sunday suggested that as many as 65 could have been killed.
“There are more than 280 injured people. Many are in operation theatres now being treated and we fear that the death toll may climb considerably,” Rafiq said.
Nasreen Bibi, the mother of a two-year-old injured in the attack, spoke through tears as she waited for news from the doctors. “We were just here to have a nice evening and enjoy the weather,” she said. “May God shower his wrath upon these attackers. What kind of people target little children in a park?”
Footage broadcast on local television showed chaotic scenes in the park, with people running while carrying children, and cradling the wounded in their laps.
One witness, who was not identified by name on Pakistan’s Geo TV station, said he was heading towards a ride with his wife and two children when he heard a huge bang and all four of them were thrown to the floor.
Other eyewitnesses said they saw body parts strewn about once the dust had settled after the explosion.
“When the blast occurred, the flames were so high they reached above the trees and I saw bodies flying in the air,” Reuters quoted Hasan Imran, 30, a resident who had come to the park for a walk, as saying.
Footage showed children and women standing in pools of blood outside the park, crying and screaming, while rescue officials, police and bystanders carried injured people to ambulances and private cars.
Dozens of women and children were seen being wheeled into hospitals covered in blood. Many of the injured were transported to hospitals in taxis and auto-rickshaws due to a shortage of ambulances. Hundreds of citizens arrived outside hospitals to donate blood.
Local TV channels reported that many of the dead bodies were being kept in hospital wards because morgues were overcrowded.
Soon after the attack, the Punjab government ordered all public parks to be closed. Main shopping areas were shut down and many key roads were deserted.
The army was called in to control crowds outside the park. Some distraught, sobbing relatives clashed with police and rescue officials.
In a statement from the White House, Ned Price, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, said: “The United States condemns in the strongest terms today’s appalling terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan.
“This cowardly act in what has long been a scenic and placid park has killed dozens of innocent civilians and left scores injured.”
He added that the country “stands with the people and government of Pakistan at this difficult hour. We will continue to work with our partners in Pakistan and across the region ... to root out the scourge of terrorism.”
Punjab has traditionally been more peaceful than other parts of Pakistan. Sharif’s opponents have accused him of tolerating militancy in return for peace in the province, a charge that he strongly denies.
Last year, a bomb killed a Pakistani provincial minister and at least eight others when it destroyed his home in Punjab.
Pakistan has been plagued by a Taliban insurgency, criminal gangs and sectarian violence. Punjab is the country’s biggest and wealthiest province. The Pakistani Taliban and other similar groups routinely carry out attacks as part of their aim to overthrow the government.
In 2014, Pakistan launched an offensive against the Taliban and affiliated fighters in North Waziristan in an attempt to destroy safe havens from which jihadis could launch attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.