Monday’s attack on Civil Hospital Quetta was one of the deadliest in the country’s long battle against militancy.
The explosion came as scores of lawyers along with video journalists had gathered at the Civil Hospital to mourn the fatal shooting of a top provincial lawyer, with witnesses describing horrific scenes as medics battled to save scores of wounded.
“Lawyers throughout the country will boycott court proceedings on Tuesday in protest against the killing of lawyers in Quetta yesterday,” said a statement from the Pakistan Bar Council, adding that provincial and district bar councils would follow suit.
Must Read: COAS orders agencies to conduct countrywide combing operations
Balochistan government spokesman Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar said schools in the province would also be closed on Tuesday “to mourn the loss” while business activities would remain suspended.
Funerals have already been held for many of the victims, he said.
“Those who were living in and close to Quetta city have already buried their loved ones, while those belonging to far-flung areas will be buried today,” he said.
On Monday officials had put the number of wounded at 112. Twenty-seven of the critically injured were airlifted to Karachi, where a spokesman for the Aga Khan Hospital said they are “out of danger now”.
The attack has been claimed by both a faction of the Pakistani Taliban called Jammat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), and the Islamic State group (IS).
JuA, which formed in 2014, has also claimed responsibility for Pakistan’s deadliest blast so far this year, a bombing in a crowded Lahore park on Easter that killed 75, among other attacks.
The US State Department designated JuA as a terrorist group last week in a statement that described it as “a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region”.
In a tweet, Director General ISPR, General Asim Bajwa said the attack was “specially targeting CPEC”, referring to China’s ambitious $46 billion project to build an economic corridor through Pakistan.
