Blast in Pakistan hospital kills at least 30

Hours after the JuA claim the IS group also claimed the attack, saying it had killed 200 people, according to the SITE monitoring group.

The troubled Baluchistan province has been hit by terror attacks by militants and separatists who demand more autonomy in the province.

“A martyr from the Islamic State detonated his explosive belt at a gathering of justice ministry employees and Pakistani policemen in the city of Quetta”, Amaq said.

Pope Francis said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack, joining a chorus of worldwide condemnation. It was added to the United States’ list of global terrorists last week.

Television footage showed scenes of chaos, with panicked people fleeing through the debris as smoke filled the hospital corridors.

Bodies lay scattered across a hospital courtyard shortly after the blast and pools of blood collected as emergency rescuers rushed to identify survivors. In Quetta, businesses remained shut to mourn the victims.

Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a provincial spokesman, said, “Our resolve is strong to fight terrorism and terrorists and the government is clear such cowardly attacks will not stop us from continuing the operation against militants in the province”.

Expressing solidarity with the families of the victims, SCBA leader Syed Ali Zafar said this was the first time in the history of the Supreme Court that a strike had been called, adding that it was an attack on the country’s judicial system. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting in Quetta yesterday and ordered all state security institutions to respond with full might to eliminate terrorists.

JuA, which formed in 2014, has also claimed responsibility for Pakistan’s deadliest blast so far this year, a bombing in a crowded Lahore park on Easter that killed 75, among other attacks.

Monday’s attack on a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta was one of the deadliest in the country’s long battle against militancy.

Senior analyst Rahimullah Yousafzai cast doubt on both claims to the Quetta bombing, saying there was little previous evidence of either JuA or ISIS being active in Balochistan province.

Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Afghan Taliban leader was killed in May by a USA drone strike while travelling to Quetta from the Pakistan-Iran border.