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Lahore Blast: Pakistan Taliban Claims Responsibility For Attack That Killed 70

Pakistan Taliban Claims Responsibility For Lahore Blast That Killed 70
LAHORE, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN - 2016/03/27: (EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content.) Pakistani rescuers and officials gather at a bomb blast site in Lahore. At least 52 people were killed and dozens injured when an explosion ripped through the parking lot of a crowded park where many minority Christians had gone to celebrate Easter Sunday, officials said. (Photo by Rana Sajid Hussain/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Pacific Press via Getty Images
LAHORE, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN - 2016/03/27: (EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content.) Pakistani rescuers and officials gather at a bomb blast site in Lahore. At least 52 people were killed and dozens injured when an explosion ripped through the parking lot of a crowded park where many minority Christians had gone to celebrate Easter Sunday, officials said. (Photo by Rana Sajid Hussain/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

LAHORE -- Pakistani authorities hunted on Monday for breakaway Taliban militants who once declared loyalty to Islamic State after the group claimed responsibility for an Easter suicide bomb targeting Christians, that killed at least 70 people.

The attack on Sunday evening in a busy park in the eastern city of Lahore, the powerbase of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, killed mostly women and children enjoying an Easter weekend outing. Pakistan is a majority-Muslim state but has a Christian population of more than 2 million.

Pakistani security officials collect evidence at the cordoned-off site of the March 27 suicide bombing, in Lahore.

It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since the December 2014 massacre of 134 school children at a military run academy in the city of Peshawar that prompted a big government crackdown on Islamist militancy.

"We must bring the killers of our innocent brothers, sisters and children to justice and will never allow these savage inhumans to over-run our life and liberty," military spokesman Asim Bajwa said in a post on Twitter.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack late on Sunday night, and issued a direct challenge to the government.

A woman weeps for her injured family members as she tries to speak to security at a local hospital in Lahore.

"The target was Christians," said a faction spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said. "We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore."

Lahore is the capital of Pakistan's richest province, Punjab, and is seen as the country's political and cultural heartland.

Sharif's office condemned the blast as a cowardly act and said a response had been ordered, without elaborating.

Lahore, markets, schools and courts were closed on Monday as the city mourned.

Rescue services spokeswoman Deeba Shahnaz said at least 70 people were killed and about 340 were wounded, with 25 in serious condition.

The group has claimed responsibility for several big attacks after it split with the main Pakistani Taliban in 2014.

It declared allegiance to the Islamic State but later said it was rejoining the Pakistani Taliban insurgency.

A Pakistani relative carries an injured child to the hospital in Lahore.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.