Suicide Attack in Pakistan Leaves at Least 70 People Dead

A suicide attack carried out in a park in Pakistan's second largest city of Lahore on Sunday evening claimed the lives of at least seventy people and left 300 other injured.

A Taliban breakaway group, which has carried out several attacks on civilians and security forces in the past months, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group said that it had targeted Christians celebrating Easter, with police still investigating the claim.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by suicide bomber who hit the main gate leading to the Gulshan-e-Iqbal park close to a children's playground. The park was more crowded than usual as Christians were celebrating Easter.

There are many children among the casualties, with the death toll expected to rise, the BBC reports.

Lahore is known as the political powerbase of Pakistan's prime minister and has seen relatively few violence and terrorist attacks in the past years.