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Pakistan violence: Gunmen storm Quetta hospital | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Gunmen have attacked a hospital in the western Pakistani city of Quetta, hours after an explosion on a bus killed at least 11 female university students. | Gunmen have attacked a hospital in the western Pakistani city of Quetta, hours after an explosion on a bus killed at least 11 female university students. |
The interior minister says a siege of part of the hospital where the wounded are being treated has now ended. | |
Nurses, hospital security personnel and a senior city official were among the 10 people in the stand-off. | |
An extremist Sunni militant group, Laskar-e-Jhangvi, told the BBC it carried out both attacks. | |
A man calling himself spokesman for the group said they were a revenge for an earlier raid by security forces against the group in which a woman and children were killed. | |
The latest violence began when a bomb exploded on a bus carrying female students at a university. | |
"It was an improvised explosive device placed in the women university bus," police chief Zubair Mahmood said. | "It was an improvised explosive device placed in the women university bus," police chief Zubair Mahmood said. |
Later explosions rocked the medical centre where the students were being treated. | |
Militants armed with grenades were positioned there and exchanged fire with members of the security forces who rushed to the scene. | Militants armed with grenades were positioned there and exchanged fire with members of the security forces who rushed to the scene. |
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a subsequent siege ended after security forces stormed the building. | |
Mr Ali Khan said security forces freed 35 people trapped inside the building, killed four of the attackers and arrested another. | |
Quetta Police Chief Mir Zubair told the BBC that suicide bombers were involved in the attack, with one blowing himself up during the stand-off with security forces. | |
Mr Zubair said the hospital was a big medical complex and had suggested it could take a few hours to totally clear the area. | |
Pakistani officials say a senior Quetta official, Abdul Mansoor Khan, who had gone to the hospital to visit the wounded students, was killed in the stand-off. | |
The violence came hours after militants carried out a rocket attack against a historic home in the Ziarat area of Balochistan, which was used by Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah. | The violence came hours after militants carried out a rocket attack against a historic home in the Ziarat area of Balochistan, which was used by Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah. |
The house is said to have been severely damaged. | The house is said to have been severely damaged. |
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months. | |
Some attacks are carried out by separatists and others by Islamists who oppose women's education. | |
Last month the Taliban killed at least 11 people in an attack on security forces in Quetta. | Last month the Taliban killed at least 11 people in an attack on security forces in Quetta. |