A suicide blast at a hospital in Pakistan’s south-western city of Quetta yesterday killed at least 67 and injured dozens more, raising fears that militant groups in the region are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attacks.
A lone bomber blew himself up amid a group of lawyers that had gathered at the main government hospital to protest against the assassination earlier in the day of Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the bar association in Baluchistan.
A senior police officer in Quetta, provincial capital of Baluchistan, told the Financial Times the assassination and bombing appeared to have been “highly co-ordinated”, adding that “the objective behind the killing was to provoke a lawyers’ protest outside the hospital, which created a target for the suicide attack”.