Breakaway Pakistani faction of the militant Taliban group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the bombing on Easter Sunday, which killed over 65 people in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that was crowded with Christians, including many children.
Image: Rescue workers evacuate an injured man from the site of a blast outside a public park in Lahore. Photograph: Mohsin Raza/Reuters
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding: “The target was Christians.”
The blast happened in the parking area of Gulshan-e-IqbalPark, Lahore, a few metres away from children’s swings, and most of the victims are believed to be women and children.
Authorities have so far confirmed the deaths of 65 people at the park, where Christians had been celebrating Easter, but they expect the death toll to rise.
Senior police official Haider Ashraf said the blast appeared to be a suicide attack, adding that ball bearings were found at the crowded park.
Medical workers said the blast mainly killed women and children, while many of the wounded were in a critical condition.
The chief minister of Punjab province, Shahbaz Sharif, has announced three days mourning and pledged to ensure that those involved in the attack are brought to trial.
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. May God shower his wrath upon these attackers. What kind of people target little children in a park?”
The group responsible for the attack was founded Omar Khalid Korasani, a former Taliban senior leader who broke off from the main group to form the more-hardline organization in 2014.
He re-aligned with the main Pakistani Taliban leadership last year, and the group are currently waging war on the government, which in 2014 vowed to grant no safe haven to terrorists.
The attack happened in the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif political base in Punjab.
In a statement, the group said: “We claim responsibility for the attack on Christians as they were celebrating Easter.”
“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.”
The group was previously responsible for a March 2015 bombing at a Roman Catholic church in Lahore that killed 15 people and injured 70 others.
The army had been called in and soldiers were at the scene helping with rescue operations and security.
