Bombing outside hospital in Pakistani city of Quetta kills 6

He says “our hearts go out to the families and other loved ones of the more than 60 killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to the dozens more injured”.

The military has been deployed in and around Quetta’s hospitals. Most of the victims were lawyers who had gathered to mourn a prominent local lawyer was had been killed by gunmen earlier on Monday.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been behind several attacks in Pakistan in recent years, including a deadly March bombing on Easter Sunday in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed at least 70 people.

Editor’s note: Correction – A previous version of this story published on August 8, 2016, stated that the Pakistan Taliban, rather than a splinter group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Separately, ISIS also claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack at the hospital, according to statements from ISIS-linked media Amaq Agency, but these claims can not be verified by CNN.

Abdul Rehman, the director at the Civil Hospital, said the bombing killed 64 people, mostly lawyers.

The group has claimed responsibility for other suicide blasts, attacks on teams carrying out polio vaccinations and called for attacks in Myanmar.

25 people have been killed and nearly 35 others are injured in a bomb explosion in Civil Hospital Quetta, reported Waqt News.

“This brutal and senseless attack on civilians, so many of them lawyers working to bring justice to their country, will not undermine one of the most important pillars of Pakistan’s democracy and civil society”, said American Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale in a statement. He said lawyers across the country will observe three days of mourning and will stay away from court appointments to express solidarity with those killed in the attack.

Police said unknown men also opened fire after the blast. “I ran back to the place and saw dead bodies scattered everywhere and many injured people crying”. “The bomber had strapped some eight kilograms (18 pounds) of explosives packed with ball bearings and shrapnel on his body”, he said.

“Today’s suicide attack appeared to target Kasi’s supporters”, Anwar ul Haq, a spokesman for the Baluchistan government, said.

Pakistan is grimly accustomed to atrocities after a almost decade-long insurgency.

But analysts have warned the group is still able to carry out major attacks.

A police surgeon Noor Baloch, said that at least 46 dead bodies were taken in to Quetta’s Civil Hospital, the clinic that was bombed.

He was leader of the bar association in the province of Baluchistan where the hospital is located. Later Monday, the prime minister traveled to Quetta to meet the wounded and take a first look at the situation.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast and expressed his “deep grief and anguish over the loss of precious human lives” in the attack, in which several senior lawyers were also killed.

He also instructed health officials to provide the best treatment possible to those wounded in the attack.

Sharif added that “no one will be allowed to disturb the peace”, which “countless sacrifices” by the “security forces, police and the people of Baluchistan” have worked so hard to restore.

Senior police official Zahoor Ahmed says also that dozens have been wounded in the explosion.

A loud explosion was heard at the emergency department where Kasi’s body was brought for autopsy.