Pakistan mourns Quetta dead

Lawyers in Pakistan on Tuesday boycotted courts and staged protests against the killing of their colleagues as a shocked nation mourned the death of 70 people in a horrific suicide bombing at a hospital in restive Balochistan province.

Pakistan’s national flag flew at half-mast as the government announced a national mourning. A suicide bomber on Monday struck 200 lawyers who had gathered outside the emergency ward of civil hospital in Quetta after a senior lawyer was shot dead, killing at least 70 people, including 40 lawyers. The attack also left close to 150 people injured.

Taliban’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction and Islamic State extremists claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan Bar Council in a statement said, “Lawyers throughout the country will protest against the killing of lawyers in Quetta.”

The lawyers boycotted all courts while observing mourning for their colleagues. They held demonstrations across Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta wearing black arm bands and chanted slogans against terrorism. In Quetta, businesses remained shut to mourn the victims.