ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A breakaway Pakistani faction of the militant Taliban group claimed responsibility for an Easter Sunday bombing in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 65 people.
Ahsanullah Ahsan, the spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, told The Associated Press that a suicide bomber with the faction deliberately targeted the Christian community. The explosion happened near the children’s rides in Gulshan-e-Iqbal park — which was crowded with Christians celebrating Easter — Police Chief Haider Ashraf said. He said the explosion appeared to have been a suicide bombing, but investigations are ongoing.
The attack killed 65 people and wounded more than 300, said Deeba Shahnaz, a spokesman for Lahore’s rescue administration.
Punjab’s chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, announced three days of mourning and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice, said Zaeem Qadri, a spokesman for the provincial government.
The park was manned by police and private security guards, Ashraf said.
“We are in a warlike situation and there is always a general threat, but no specific threat alert was received for this place,” he added.
Schools and businesses in the city will remain closed Monday, the city’s schools association and the Union of Lahore Traders announced. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif conducted a meeting to assess the security situation in Lahore, according to a government statement. Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, also convened an emergency meeting of the country’s intelligence agencies to begin to track down the people responsible for the attacks, said army spokesman Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa.
Salman Rafiq, a health adviser to the Punjab government, called on citizens to donate blood, saying that many of those wounded were in a critical condition.
One witness, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Afzal, told The Associated Press that he had taken 20 children to a hospital and carried three dead bodies to a police car. “I can’t explain to you the tragic situation,” he said. Another witness, Tariq Mustapha, said that he had just left the park when he heard an explosion. He said his friend was still missing.
Footage broadcast on local television stations showed chaotic scenes in the park, with people running while carrying children and cradling the wounded in their laps.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said the United States “condemns the attack in the strongest terms,” describing it as a “cowardly act in what has long been a scenic and placid park.” Price said the U.S. would continue to work with Pakistan and its partners to “root out the scourge of terrorism.”
