13 Aug 2016

On 8 August 2016, terrorists

attacked the Government Hospital
of Quetta in Pakistan with a
suicide bombing and shooting that
resulted in the deaths of at least
93 people and injured more than
130 others.[4] The fatalities were
mainly advocates (lawyers) who
had assembled at the hospital
where the body of Advocate Bilal
Anwar Kasi, the president of
Balochistan Bar Association, was
brought after he was shot dead by
an unknown gunman.[5]
Responsibility for the attack has
been claimed by various Islamist
groups like Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and
the Islamic State.
Contents
Incident

Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi, the

president of Balochistan Bar
Association, was attacked on the
morning of 8 August near Mengal
Chowk on Manno Jan Road while
leaving his home for his office. His
dead body was brought to the
Government Hospital for autopsy
and many advocates assembled
there. A suspected suicide
bombing took place inside the
hospital, which was followed by
gunfire resulting in fatalities and
injuries.[5][6]

Police and Frontier Corps took

over the area after the attack and
an emergency was declared in
hospitals of Quetta.[7] Mobile
phone jammers were activated in
the hospital area.[8] The Bomb
Disposal Squad reported that 8 to
9 kilograms of explosives were
used in the attack.[9] Two
journalists, one from Aaj News and
the other fromDawn News, died in
the Quetta Civil Hospital attack
while working.[10]
Perpetrators

Both the Pakistani Taliban and the

Islamic State militant group (ISIS)
have claimed responsibility for the
attack. Initially Islamic State
claimed the responsibility for the
attack stating that 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..[3][11][12] However,
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group
of Pakistani militant group Tehrik-i-
Taliban Pakistan, also claimed
credit for the attack on advocate
Kasi and the hospital.[1][13][14]
The group threatened that more
attacks would take place until the
imposition of an Islamic system in
Pakistan.[8]

ISPR quoted Army Chief Raheel

Sharif as saying that the attack
was targeting China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC)[15]
Reactions
Domestic
Pakistan government

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and

President Mamnoon Hussain
condemned the attack and
expressed their grief over the loss.
The government announced three-
day mourning in which the
National Flag of Pakistan will
remain at half staff on government
buildings.[5]

Balochistan Chief Minister

Sanaullah Zehri, before initial
investigations into the blast were
completed and before the nature
of the blast was confirmed,[16]
alleged that Indian intelligence
agency Research and Analysis
Wing (RAW) and Afghanistans
intelligence agency National
Directorate of Security (NDS) were
behind recent terror incidents in
Quetta including this one.[3][17]
[18][19] Pakistans Home Minister
Bugti claimed that the
administration had evidence to
show that RAW was promoting
violence in the province by
bankrolling terrorists.[20]
Accusations of Indian involvement
were reiterated by former
Pakistani president Pervez
Musharraf.[21]Similarly, Pakistan
Foreign office spokesman Nafees
Zakaria alleges that Indian
intelligence agencies have had
continued involvement in
subversive terrorism activities in
Pakistan, especially in Balochistan
and Karachi. Zakaria further said
that there are foreign intelligence
agencies working in conjunction
with local terrorist organizations to
carry out attacks such as the one
in Quetta.[22]National Security
adviser Sartaj Aziz said that
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar carried out the
suicide blast with assistance of
Afghanistan intelligence.According
to him coordination between
National Directorate of Security
and RAW was evident. [23][24]

Leader of opposition in Pakistani

Senate, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan
stated that All the responsibility
lies with Interior Minister Chaudhry
Nisar Ali Khan under theNational
Action Plan (NAP), and that the
buck stops at the interior minister
as he is responsible for internal
security of the country. Aitzaz said
that NAP is not being implemented
as banned outfits are free to enter
the federal capital and hate
speech is also rampant.[25][26]
[27]
Pakistani military

NAP review meeting was held to

review the implementation of
National Action Plan. A task force
consisting of senior officials from
the security agencies of both the
federal and provincial
governments, will be established
to monitor the progress. Military
views that threat to internal
security was morphing due to
nexus between hostile foreign
intelligence agencies and local
militant groups. [28]Commander
Southern Command Lt-Gen
Aamer Riaz claimed India had
launched a unconventional war
with Pakistan.[29] Pakhtunkhwa
Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief
Mahmood Khan Achakzai stated
that the Quetta blast was a failure
of Pakistani Intelligence Agencies
and that they should look into the
failure of their own departments
instead of blaming RAW for
terrorists attack and demanded to
sack security officials if
perpetrators are not found. [30]
[31][32][33][34]
International
United Nations Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon,[35][36] United
States White House Press
Secretary Josh Earnest[37]
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani[38]
and French President Franois
Hollande all condemned the
attack.[39] The Pakistan and
England cricket teams observed a
minute of silence before the start
of their fourth test match. Both
teams wore black arm-bands in
solidarity with the victims.[40]

Social networking website

Facebook activated its Safety
Check feature enabling people to
mark themselves safe.[41]
Web Assistant.