Islamabad (dpa) – Pakistan was preparing Monday to bury the first victims of a bombing that targeted Christians at a park on the weekend, as the death toll in the attack climbed to 70.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest among a crowd at the public park in the eastern city of Lahore, local official Mohamed Usman said.
Relatives of the victims of a suicide bomb blast at a Pakistani park cry outside a hospital in Lahore.
Around 340 people were injured, said Deeba Shahnaz Akhtar, a spokeswoman for the rescue service. It was the deadliest attack in months in the province of Punjab.
Markets were shut and traffic was thin on the roads across the province.
Funerals for most of the victims were scheduled for later Monday.
At least 25 children were among the dead, local police chief Mohamed Iqbal said. Some 15 members of the Christian community died in the blast.
Police and rescue services put the confirmed number of dead at 70.
A girl who was injured in a suicide bomb blast at a park in Lahore is rushed to a hospital.
The provincial government announced a three-day period of mourning with the national flag flying at half-mast and schools closed in the city, provincial Education Minister Rana Mashood said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday visited injured people being treated at a hospital, his office said.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying members of the Christian community were their target.
Army chief Raheel Sharif said overnight the military would step up an offensive against the Islamist militants.
