NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The explosion took place early on Monday, shortly after the body of slain former Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) President Bilal Anwar Kasi was brought to the hospital. Several of the victims are reported to be lawyers and journalists.
"The death toll has risen to 70 and there are 112 injured," the head of the local health department, Masood Nausherwani, told reporters, as quoted by the Express Tribune.
According to local authorities, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Taliban militant group in Pakistan, took responsibility for the attack, and pledges to continue such attacks. The authorities presumed that the attack might have been carried out by a suicide bomber.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited victims of the explosion. He arrived in Quetta, accompanied by Chief of Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif.
