Bomb targeting mourners at Pakistan hospital kills at least 45

PHOTO: Mostly lawyers and journalists were targeted in the attack. (AFP: Banaras Khan)

At least 45 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowd of mourners at a hospital in south-west Pakistan, officials said, with fears the toll will rise.

The blast in the Balochistan provincial capital Quetta came after mourners including journalists and lawyers had gathered at the hospital following the fatal shooting of Bilal Anwar Kasi, a senior local lawyer.

More than 50 mourners were entering the emergency department of the hospital, accompanying Mr Kasi's body, when the bomb went off, a journalist at the scene said.

Officials were cautious about the death toll, saying mobile phone jammers had been activated around hospitals in the area so they were unable to contact officers on the ground.

"The last information we had was 40 dead but it may increase," Balochistan Health Minister Saleh Baloch said, in a figure confirmed by an AFP reporter at the scene.

"There were around 40 people injured when we were shifting them to hospitals. But now mobile jammers have been activated and so we don't have updated information.

"There are many wounded, so the death toll could rise," he said.

The military has also been deployed in and around the city's hospitals, he said.

The toll makes the attack the second deadliest in Pakistan this year so far, after a bombing in a crowded park in Lahore over Easter killed 75.

Mr Kasi was shot and killed early on Monday morning while on his way to the main court complex in Quetta, local media reported.

He was reportedly targeted by two unknown gunmen.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for either attack.

PHOTO: The attack is the second deadliest in Pakistan this year. (AFP: Banaras Khan)

Targeted killings have become increasingly common in Quetta, the capital of a province that has seen rising violence linked to a separatist insurgency as well as sectarian tensions and rising crime.

Quetta has also long been a base for the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership has regularly held meetings there in the past.

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

Reuters/AFP

Source: ABC News