Bomb attack in Quetta
 
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Location of Quetta in Pakistan |
On August 8, 2016, there was a bomb attack on the state hospital in Quetta , the capital of the Pakistani province of Balochistan . At least 70 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured. The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (a faction of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan ) and the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack .
event
On the morning of August 8, 2016, two strangers carried out a murder attempt on the Pakistani lawyer and chairman of the Balochistan Bar Association, Bilal Anwar Kasi, as he was leaving his apartment in Quetta for his place of work. Kasi was fatally wounded. A little later, his body was taken to the city's state hospital for an autopsy . News of the murder quickly spread throughout the city and many lawyers rushed to the hospital to pay their respects to the dead.
Then there was an explosion in the hospital, which was allegedly caused by a suicide bomber . According to official information, at least 70 people were killed and more than 100 injured. At least 25 lawyers and judges as well as some journalists were among those killed. After the incident, the police and border guards cordoned off the area surrounding the hospital. A spokesman for the Baloch regional government spoke of a likely systematically planned assassination attempt against the lawyers and judges. All other health care facilities in Quetta were placed in an emergency state and some of the injured were also transported to hospitals in Karachi .
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces , General Raheel Sharif , went to Quetta to hold talks on the security situation. Nawaz Sharif and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the attack in harsh words.
A little later, the Islamist Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JA), a split from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), admitted to the attack in an email and announced that a video would be published soon. JA also declared itself responsible for the previous murder of Kasi.
The day after the attack, lawyers across Pakistan protested the violence. The Pakistani Bar Association stated that the lawyers would have one week of mourning and during that time they would like to stop their court activities.
On January 13, 2016, at least 14 people were killed in a suicide attack in Jamaat-ul-Ahrar on a poliomyelitis vaccination center in Quetta. At least 11 lawyers have been violently killed in Quetta since 2007. Some fell victim to sectarian violence, others died in suicide bombings, and still others were kidnapped, tortured and later murdered.
Attack on August 11, 2016
Three days later, again in Quetta, a roadside bomb injured 13 people. According to the authorities, the target of the attack was an unharmed judge.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pakistan: Taliban and IS militia confess to bomb attack. Der Spiegel , August 8, 2016, accessed on August 8, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Zafar Baloch, Hasnaat Malik, Sardar Sikander, Tahir Khan: 70 killed in blast at Quetta's civil hospital after lawyer's killing. The Express Tribune, August 8, 2016, accessed August 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Pakistan hospital bomb attack kills dozens in Quetta. BBC News, August 8, 2016, accessed August 8, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Pakistan hospital bomb attack kills dozens in Quetta. BBC News, August 9, 2016, accessed August 9, 2016 .
- ↑ Syed Ali Shah: Blast near Quetta polio center kills 14; TTP claims responsibility. dawn.com, January 13, 2016, accessed August 9, 2016 .
- ^ M. Ilyas Khan: Quetta hospital bombing: 'There were heaps of men lying over each other'. BBC News, August 9, 2016, accessed August 9, 2016 .
- ^ Second attack on justice in Pakistan within a week. mz-web.de , August 11, 2016, accessed on August 11, 2016 .
Coordinates: 30 ° 12 ' N , 67 ° 0' E