Explosion at Park in Lahore, Pakistan, Kills Dozens

[Valin]

NY Times:

SALMAN MASOOD

MARCH 27, 2016

 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A powerful blast ripped through a public park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday evening, killing at least 52 people and wounding at least 200, including women and children, rescue workers and officials said.

 

The blast, apparently caused by a suicide bomber, occurred in a parking lot at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, said Haider Ashraf, a senior police official in Lahore.

 

The park is frequented both by residents and visitors to the city, and is popular with families.

 

“It was a soft target. Innocent women and children and visitors from other cities have been targeted,” Mr. Ashraf said. “Apparently, it seems like a suicide attack.”

 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at the 67-acre park, which has walking paths as well as rides for children. The explosion coincided with violence in other parts of the country as hundreds of protesters took to the streets to condemn the Feb. 29 execution of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who had killed Salmaan Taseer, a governor who had campaigned for changes in the country’s blasphemy laws, in January 2011.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iA6kSICRP4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLH046Ruzk4

[Valin]

Christians Were The Target.

The Latest: Taliban faction claims Pakistan park bombing
Mar. 27, 2016 2:47 PM EDT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Latest on the bombing of a park in the Pakistani city of Lahore (all times local):

11.30 p.m.

A breakaway faction of the militant Taliban group in Pakistan has claimed responsibility for an Easter Sunday bomb attack on a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 60 people, and wounded 300.

Ahsanullah Ahsan, spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, told the Associated Press Sunday that a suicide bomber with the faction deliberately targeted the Christian community. He warned that more attacks would follow.

Senior police officer Haider Ashraf says the explosion took place close to the children's rides in Gulshan-e-Iqbal park, which was crowded with Christian families celebrating Easter.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Dunya News obtains ID card of alleged terrorist of Lahore blast

 

 

 

[nickydog]

I don't dare ask What next?!

[Valin]

I don't dare ask What next?!

 

Something worse.

[Valin]

Pakistan bombing: At least 69 killed in Easter attack on Christians
Sophia Saifi, Holly Yan and Daniyal Hassan, CNN
Updated 7:25 AM ET, Mon March 28, 2016

Lahore, Pakistan (CNN)On this Easter Sunday, Christians in Lahore mingled with their Muslim neighbors, celebrating in a neighborhood park -- taking their children on rides or pushing them on swings. Then, the sound of tragedy.

A blast tore through the park, killing indiscriminately.

But the attack, claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, intentionally targeted Christians, the group said.

The suicide blast killed at least 69 people, a local government spokesman told CNN.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

US State Department lists Jamaat-ul-Ahrar as terrorist group
Bill Roggio
August 3, 2016

The US State Department added Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a dangerous faction of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, to its list of global terrorists organizations earlier today. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been behind numerous deadly attacks inside Pakistan and is closely allied with the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda.

 

State described Jamaat-ul-Ahrar as “a splinter group of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan,” or Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, however the characterization is not accurate. While Jamaat-ul-Ahrar broke away from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan due a leadership dispute in August 2014, the two Taliban groups reunited in March 2014 [see LWJ report, Pakistani jihadist groups, Lashkar-i-Islam merge into the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.]

 

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar “has staged multiple attacks in the region targeting civilians, religious minorities, military personnel, and law enforcement, and was responsible for the killing of two Pakistani employees of the US Consulate in Peshawar in early March 2016,” State noted in its designation.

 

In one of its most callous and deadly attacks, a Jamaat-ul-Ahrar suicide bomber detonated at the entrance of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore in March 2016. At least 72 people, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 300 were wounded in the blast.

 

Ihsanullah Ihsan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s official spokesman, proudly took credit for the Easter Day bombing.

 

(Snip)