55 Killed, over 100 injured in blast at Hospital in Pakistan’s Quetta

At least 55 people, mostly lawyers, were killed today and over 100 others injured when a powerful bomb ripped through a government-run hospital in Quetta in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, in a suspected suicide attack followed by gunfire.

 At least 55 people, mostly lawyers, were killed today and over 100 others injured when a powerful bomb ripped through a government-run hospital in Quetta in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, in a suspected suicide attack followed by gunfire.

The blast at Civil Hospital came hours after unidentified gunmen shot dead president of Balochistan Bar Association (BA) Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi at the provincial capital following which lawyers had brought his body to the hospital, according to police and rescue officials.

A loud explosion was heard as lawyers and journalists had gathered at the emergency department where Kasi’s body was brought for autopsy. Most of the dead and injured are lawyers, including police officials and journalists as well, police and eye witnesses were quoted saying in reports.

The condition of about 20 of those injured is said to be serious.

It was not immediately clear if the blast and the earlier shooting were related and no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.