A suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, on Monday has reportedly left at least 67 people dead and nearly 100 injured. Reuters reported that both the Islamic State and Jamat-ul-Ahrar, which The Guardian described as an "offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban," have claimed responsibility for the attack, which seemingly targeted a group of prominent lawyers who had gathered at the state-run hospital after a high-profile colleague was shot and killed earlier that day. Bilal Kasi, the local president of the Bar Association, was assassinated earlier Monday in an incident also reportedly perpetrated by Jamat-ul-Ahrar.
Quetta, the capital city of Pakistan's poorest province, Balochistan, has faced increased violence in recent weeks as it grapples with a separatist insurgency. The attack on the Quetta hospital marks Pakistan's second deadliest this year, after the Easter Sunday attack in Lahore that killed 75 people. Jamat-ul-Ahrar vowed in an email Monday to "continue attacks in Pakistan till the establishment of the Islamic system in the country."
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