UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday condemned the terrorist attack at a hospital in Pakistan’s southwestern Quetta city, calling the attack “particularly appalling”, the attack killed 70 people, mostly lawyers. Over 100 others were injured when a suicide bomber detonated himself inside the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital.
The blast took place when a large number of lawyers were gathered to collect the body of a murdered colleague, the president of Balochistan Bar Association Bilal Anwar Kasi, who was killed in a separate attack.
Both Islamic State and a faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic State group today claimed it was behind a suicide bombing.”A martyrdom bomber of the Islamic State detonates his explosive belt on a group of personnel belonging to the Ministry of Justice and the Pakistani Police in the city of Quetta,” the IS-linked Amaq news agency said.
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Soon after the attack, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif reached the city and visited the hospital to take stock of the situation.
“The targeting of mourners at a civilian hospital makes the attack particularly appalling,” UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told a daily briefing.
“The Secretary-General urges the Government to do its utmost to ensure safety of the population and bring to justice the perpetrators of today’s attack,” Haq added. The Pakistani Taliban faction Jamat-ul-Arhar has claimed responsibility for the attack.
IANS