Sun 27 Mar 2016: Lahore Pakistan, 72 dead, Easter park rally

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

Twenty nine children among 72 killed in Sunday's suicide bombing after Taliban jihadi blew himself up next to SWINGS at a park in Pakistan
Around 300 people were injured in the attack in the centre of Lahore today
No terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on the park
City is the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political base of Punjab
Punjab launched an ongoing war against Taliban insurgents in the state
See more news from Pakistan at www.dailymail.co.uk/pakistan
By JAMES DUNN and SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 17:21, 27 March 2016 | UPDATED: 22:44, 28 March 2016
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3511528/Dozens-mothers-childre n-52-killed-suicide-bomber-targeted-Christians-celebrating-Easter-park -Pakistan.html

More than 70 people, including 29 children, have been killed by a Taliban suicide bomber who targeted Christians near a children's playground in a park in Pakistan.

Some 300 people were injured when explosives packed with ball bearings ripped through crowds near the children's swings in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, in Lahore, where many had gathered to celebrate Easter.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding: 'The target was Christians.'

Senior police official Haider Ashraf confirmed that the death toll had risen to 72 on Monday morning, adding the majority of the dead were Muslims.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack

The blast happened a few metres away from children's swings, and most of the victims are believed to be women and children.

Witnesses described children screaming as people carried the injured in their arms, while frantic relatives searched for loved ones.

The group was previously responsible for a March 2015 bombing at a Roman Catholic church in Lahore that killed 15 people and injured 70 others.

DAVID CAMERON URGES BRITONS TO STAND UP FOR CHRISTIAN VALUES AND OFFERS AID TO PAKISTAN FOLLOWING TODAY'S BRUTAL BOMBINGS
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised British help for Pakistan after today's bombing in Lahore.
Mr Cameron, who used his Easter message to urge Britons of all faiths to stand up for Christian values, said he was shocked by the attack.
'My thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims. We will do what we can to help,' the PM posted on his Twitter feed.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: 'My thoughts are with the victims and the family of the victims of the horrific attack in Lahore.
'Solidarity with the emergency services there.'
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond wrote on Twitter: 'My thoughts are with victims of Lahore Blast. UK utterly condemns senseless & shocking violence against innocent families.'


A STATE PLAGUED BY TERROR: THE BRUTAL AND UNRELENTING HISTORY OF KILLER BOMBINGS IN A COUNTRY TORN APART BY INSURGENTS
2007 - October 18: Bomb attacks targeting former prime minister Benazir Bhutto kill 139 people in Karachi as she returns to Pakistan for the first time in eight years. She was killed in another gun and suicide attack on December 27.

2008 - August 21: Twin suicide attacks kill 64 people outside Pakistan's main arms factory in Wah near Islamabad.

September 20: Sixty people are killed when a suicide truck bomb brings down part of the five-star Marriott hotel in Islamabad.

2009 - October 28: A car bomb destroys a market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 125 people.

2010 - January 1: A suicide car bomb kills 101 people at a village volleyball game in the northwestern district of Bannu.

March 12: Twin suicide attacks on the military in Lahore kill 57.

May 28: Gun and suicide attackers storm mosques belonging to the Ahmadi religious minority in Lahore, killing 82 people.

July 9: A suicide bomber blows himself up in a busy market in the northwestern Mohmand tribal district, killing 105 people.

September 3: A suicide attack kills 59 at a Shiite Muslim rally in the southwestern city of Quetta.

November 5: A suicide bomber kills 68 people during Friday prayers in the northwest's Darra Adam Khel area.

2011 - April 3: Fifty die after two suicide bombers attack a Sufi shrine in the central town of Dera Ghazi Khan.

May 13: Two suicide bombers kill at least 98 people outside a police cadet training centre in Charsadda.

August 19: A suicide bomber hits a mosque during Friday prayers in the tribal district of Khyber, killing at least 43.

2012 - January 11: Thirty-five die when a remote-controlled bomb detonates in a market in the northwestern tribal areas.

August 16: Gunmen drag 20 Shiite Muslims off a bus and shoot them in the northwestern district of Mansehra.

2013 - January 10: A double suicide attack on a snooker club kills 92 in a Shiite Hazara neighbourhood of Quetta.

February 16: A bomb at a market at Hazara Town, a Shiite Hazara neighbourhood in the suburbs of Quetta, kills 89.

March 3: A car bomb explodes in a Shiite Muslim neighbourhood in Karachi, killing 45.

July 27: Twin explosions at a busy marketplace in northwest Pakistan kill 41.

August 9: A suicide bomber targets the funeral of a senior police officer in Quetta, killing 38.

September 22: Eighty-two people die when two suicide bombers attack a church in Peshawar after a Sunday service.

September 29: A car bomb in a busy market area in Peshawar kills 42.

2014 - January 19: A bomb rips through a military convoy in the northwestern city of Bannu, killing 20 soldiers.

January 21: A bomb on a bus kills 24 Shiite pilgrims in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

June 10: Ten Taliban militants lay siege to Karachi airport, killing 27 people.

November 2: Fifty-five people are killed by a suicide bomber at the daily closing ceremony at the main Pakistan-India border crossing.

December 16: Taliban insurgents storm an army-run school in Peshawar, killing more than 150 people, the majority of them children.


2015 - January 30: Sixty-two people are killed as a suicide bomber hits a Shiite mosque in the Shikarpur district.

February 13: Militants attack a Shiite mosque in Peshawar, killing 22.

March 15: The Taliban kill 17 people in twin suicide attacks that targeted churches in Lahore.

May 13: Forty-three Shiite Muslims are killed when gunmen open fire on their bus in Karachi.

September 18: The Pakistani Taliban attack an air force base near Peshawar and kill at least 29 people, most of them servicemen.

October 23: A suspected suicide blast which targeted Shiite Muslims in the southern city of Jacobabad kills 24.

December 13: A bomb rips through a crowded bazaar in a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, killing at least 23.

December 29: A Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle kills 26 in the northwestern town of Mardan.