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Pakistan: dozens feared dead as bomb targets mourners at hospital Pakistan: at least 30 dead as bomb targets mourners at Quetta hospital
(35 minutes later)
A bomb blast at a hospital has killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens more in Quetta, the capital of the violence-plagued south-western province of Baluchistan. A powerful bomb has exploded on the grounds of a government-run hospital in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens, police said.
The explosion occurred as mourners, mostly lawyers and journalists, gathered to accompany the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi, a prominent lawyer, who was shot and killed in the city earlier on Monday, an eyewitness said. The blast took place shortly after the body of a prominent lawyer killed in a shooting attack earlier in the day was brought to the hospital, said a senior police official, Zahoor Ahmed Afridi. It was unclear if the two events were in any way connected.
Nearly 100 lawyers and other people had gathered there at the time, he added. There were fears the death toll will rise.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which struck at the gates of the building housing the emergency ward, on the hospital grounds. Earlier, police had mistakenly said the bomb struck the hospital’s main gate.
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More than 50 mourners were entering the emergency department of the hospital, accompanying Kasi’s body, when the bomb went off, Faridullah, a journalist who was at the scene, told Reuters. Anwalullah Kakar, the government spokesman in south-western Baluchistan province, said an investigation is underway. Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial interior minister, denounced the attack as an “act of terrorism”.
Baluchistan’s home minister Bugti said at least 10 people were killed and 30 wounded, though some media reported higher casualties. A Pakistani news channel reported that one of its cameramen was also killed in the blast.
Associated Press said police had raised the toll to 30. It was also unknown who was behind the killing of the lawyer, Bilal Kasi, who was gunned down on his way to court earlier in the day.
Television news channel Geo reported that at least 15 people were killed, and more than 20 wounded. Local TV stations broadcast footage showing people running in panic around the hospital grounds. Afridi said most of the dead were lawyers who had gathered after Kasi’s body was brought to the hospital.
Kasi was shot and killed early on Monday morning while on his way to the main court complex in Quetta, Geo reported.
Targeted killings have become increasingly common in Quetta, the capital of a province that has seen rising violence linked to a separatist insurgency as well as sectarian tensions and rising crime.
The motive behind Monday’s attacks, however, was unclear.