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AT LEAST 65 people have been killed and dozens injured in Pakistan’s Lahore after an explosion ripped through a crowded park where Christians had gone to celebrate Easter Sunday, officials said.
Dozens of ambulances were seen racing to the park, situated near the centre of the city of around 8 million, with many women and children among the dead and wounded.
“The toll has risen to 65. The rescue operation is continuing,” Lahore’s top administration official, Muhammad Usman, told AFP.
The army had been called in, he said, and soldiers were at the scene helping with rescue operations and security.
Senior police official Haider Ashraf said the blast appeared to be a suicide attack, adding that ball bearings were found at the crowded park.
The explosion took place near the children’s rides, Ashraf said.
Falling violence
Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency since 2004, with groups such as the Pakistani Taliban routinely carrying out attacks as part of their struggle to overthrow the government.
But Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital that lies on the country’s eastern border with India, has been relatively peaceful in recent years.
Nationwide, overall levels of militant violence have fallen since the army began a major offensive against Taliban and Al-Qaeda strongholds in the country’s northwest border areas in 2014.
Last year saw the fewest number of civilian and security forces casualties since 2007, the year the umbrella Pakistani Taliban group was formed.
But militants have still been able to carry out major attacks.
At least 16 people were killed and more than two dozen wounded when a bomb blew up inside a bus in Peshawar, the main city of Pakistan’s insurgency-wracked northwest earlier this month.
Today’s blast in Lahore saw the highest number of casualties since a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 55 people at the main Pakistan-India border crossing at Wagah in 2014 in an attack claimed by the Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Taliban.
© AFP 2016 with additional reporting by AP
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These islamists are a real and present danger. Savages.
Islam is a religion of peace and Muslims are a peaceful people. Hating ISIS makes us just as bad as them. We should negotiate with ISIS and find out why they’re committing evil acts, a peaceful solution is needed.
Yes, hating a group of murderous paedophiles makes one as bad as that group of murderous paedophiles.
Pull your head out of your arse.
Hating ISIS makes them stronger so yes it is just as bad.
Rosie…thats pretty much the advice from Ali Selim in the mosque in clonskeagh….
Rosie why don’t you go to Syria and have some peace talks with them. I am sure it will go swimmingly.
Pat and Peter your ideology was defeated in 1945, let the grown ups talk to ISIS instead of throwing tantrums at innocent Muslims because they have brown skin
So we’re supposed to like them??!!
No we’re supposed to talk to them and seek a peaceful solution.
Stop feeding Rosie.
I really don’t think they want to talk, they want to take over Europe, and they do know talking won’t achieve that
Only group that has a history of trying to take over Europe is right wingers.
Negotiate!, we’re negotiating other terrorists now are we?, next we’ll be appeasing them!
Negotiating with terrorists!
Rosie….you are FAR too obvious in your attempts at provocation…what do you know about the NSDAP anyway…
If governments could negotiate with SF/IRA in the 90s we can negotiate with ISIS now.
Rosie put your money where your mouth is & head on out to Helmand or pashwar & seek out a peaceful compromise, I suspect you will brutally rapes then executed.
Note*- calling islam shite and muslims geebags is “phobic”, calling christianity shite and christians geebags isnt “christianophobic”, not that i’d say either, but why is that?
I still can’t believe people actually talk about negotiations. People literally willing to kill themselves and innocent children in the process because of Allah’s will so they can get 20 virgin’s in the afterlife and us infidels are supposed to convince them otherwise. I’m I the only one sees a problem?
Right wingers are scared of negotiating because it means acknowledging the existence of people who aren’t straight white christian “normal people” like themselves.
Broaden your world view, the west has killed more of them than they have of us. The violence on both sides needs to stop.
Rosie there is a train that leaves from Beirut. You should check it out.
Rosie, I think you’re making a mistake in wanting to have peace talks with IS fanatics. IS head-choppers/suicide bombers are not reasonable minded people because if they were they wouldn’t be involved in such a monstrous death cult.
Have to agree with you on the way some commentators here equate all Muslims with IS violence. To me it’s as bad as equating most Irish people at one time with IRA violence.
Flood the area with ground troops and destroy IS. These animals don’t negotiate. Wipe them and their supporters out.
Rosie, you couldn’t have more fitting profile picture considering the nonsense you are spluttering…
Good one Rosie. You kind of show yourself up then with a profile pic of Hilary for president.
Released emails show that she was an istigator in the whole Syrian crisis knowing that if Assads government was weakened or fell, then it would create a vacuum that which suni & shia would fight each other to gain power. Even Google were in on it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-syria-rebels-defection-hillary-clinton-emails-wikileaks-a6946121.html
She should be in jail for her role in the Benghazi incident alone!
And people wonder why they hate us? Its because of people like her.
Small correction: This was the Taliban, not ISIS.
The left wing has no history of trying to take over Europe? Granted they only managed to conquer about half the continent, and only slaughtered 20 million or so in purges to ensure compliance with socialist ideology, but they would have taken the whole continent, and purged a few more tens of millions, if they could.
Are you nuts?
Ah here, leave Rosie alone with her 17 tweets. Fckin troll a count if ever there was one.
I detect sarcasm
God I really hope Rosie is a troll – surely no one could be that deluded. As a point of note – she would also be having her peace talks with the wrong terrorists – this was not ISIS – good luck with you future in foreign policy Rosie! What sad sad bast*ards they are – to kill innocent people out enjoying their day – desperate stuff.
Muhammad wrote a public letter to Christians that declared their right to self-governance, protection for churches and monasteries, and freedom to practice their religion in Muslim-controlled areas. Muslims are commanded to follow this order until the end of time. If one does not, they cease being a Muslim, and become an enemy of God (Allah). The original document exists, as well as several exact copies of it.
“Whosoever acts contrary to my grant, or gives credit to anything contrary to it, becomes truly an apostate to God, and to his divine apostle, because this protection I have granted to them according to this promise.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtiname_of_Muhammad
Q.E.D.
lurach, Do you think that this letter (which is not supported by many an Islamic scholar as being authentic or of Muhammad’s time!!) even if real, might have been written for groups who were ‘under submission’?
You forgot to mention that the Jizya tax was payable to ensure all this stuff Iurach – a fine early example of a protection racket on a huge scale.
there are a foreigners in peshawar city, nobody rape or executed them, i m from peshawar, i visit more often, u r ill informed, get ur facts right.
Prove it…if you is pakistani prove it…foreigners?
ISiS have proven to be a quite extreme self righteous right wing organisation.
ISIS (Daesh)as ruthlessly fascistic as the Taliban,Rosie.
Are you actually insane or something?
The plight of Christian (and other minority) communities in recent years, in many Middle Eastern regions, has steadily gotten worse. Thousands of Christians face genocide on a daily basis.
To date, the media has done its utmost, to avoid reporting on this story. The are only reporting on it now – simply because the scale of this human catastrophe can no longer be denied.
It has also gone largely ignored by our political leaders & so called ‘human rights’ groups such as Amnesty etc.
If Christians were the aggressors – the same media would be screeching the story from the rooftops.
The irony of it all is Saddam, Gaddafi and Assad protected their Christian minorities. Thanks to the Yanks Christians are as good as eliminated from Iraq now.
In Iraq and Afghanistan Christian were recently the aggressors.
O YES I FORGOT THE TALIBAN WHERE SLAUGHTERING HALF OF Afghanistan and Salam doing the same in Iraq….. CHRISTIANS!!!!!!
Tony, is your statement some form of justification for the current genocide of Christians?
True Paul, President Assad especially has a good record of tolerance to minority faiths, in Syria. This has NEVER been mentioned or acknowledged by the Western media.
Many journalists (including on this site) have spoken of the need for tolerance and acceptance of Muslim migrants etc. That’s all very well – but why their silence when it comes to the persecution suffered by minority communities in Middle Eastern countries.
I wonder will Colm O’Gorman and Amnesty Ireland condemn this atrocity. To date they have spoken much about the plight of refugees, migrants into Europe etc. – but almost nothing on the suffering of Middle Eastern Christians.
The Christians started it when they bombed the s**t out of the middle-east,also,please look up the definition of genocide and stop misusing and throwing about the word as if you’re taking about the weather.
Zoe…colm o gorman will express solidarity with the poor marginalised and disenfranchised sunni homicide bomber who felt so hopeless and threatened by the presence of christians that he had to kill himself to express himself….Go Amnesty!!
Ha ha,I love seeing homophobic racists annoyed at Colm O’Gorman because he handed them their asses in the Marriage Referendum,a great man who stood up for a marginalised minority of our citizens.
I don’t know why right wingers always get so annoyed at ISIS, their views are almost identical, just a slightly different religion
Zoe…President Al Assad is a member of the shia alawite sect in syria..a minority.Syria was a very peaceful and prosperous country.some estimates are of 700-800 billion to rebuild it.
Dick by name cheney why don’t you and your fellow apologists head over and join up with Isis see how reasonable they will be clown
Gerry you’re so blinded by your rage you just accused me of being an ISIS supporter! If you read my previous comments you’ll see that I have a passionate dislike for all right-wing / conservative organisations which are illiberal and also despise religion!
@ John Payne. No, not at all John. This was barbarity of the highest order. I was taking issue with Zoes contention that “If Christians were the aggressors – the same media would be screeching the story from the rooftops”
Richard, You are at the very least an ISIS apologist – “the Christians started it” (a statement which is frankly f*ucking absurd anyway) proves that. What exactly is the West doing in Pakistan? Just where and when exactly did they bomb the shit out of Pakistan?
Tony, How exactly were Christians the aggressors?
Ah bingo,you will be so shocked when you find that history books refer to dates before the 21st century. You do know that Pakistan was originally part of India and a little Western country on the outskirts of Europe called the British Empire paid them a visit?
Dick, That’s funny, I only ever remember you saying how absolutely abhorrent the IRA were? So are you’re saying they were justified?…Omagh etc?…maybe we should get them to start back up again? After all – they started it!
Dick, Historical fact.. Christianity was founded in the Mid East 6 centuries before Islam existed.. There were countless other ancient religions even before that, but all were pushed back by your precious Islam. DICK Cheney, Christians started what again??
Richard is correct. The West shit on the entire ME.
As troll accounts go this Rosie Clarke one is so obvious it sticks out more than a pink elephant,
Yet people complain about us being harsh on islam in Europe….. Savage race, savage religion.
Islam is not a race you idiot. It’s a religion.
Do gooder alert…. The only thing worse…. I said savage race, for the people who follow this twisted version of a savage religion…. Next time I will dumb down my comments for you and your kind… My apologies. These people only see barbaric deaths for our kind…. Even children, infants, newborns….. Our idiots try to reason, understand…..
Sorry, Notthatguy, I know Muslims and theyre nothing like you describe. Fck off back in your ignorant box you tragic nonce.
I work with many muslims too in Canada, and like I said, for ‘those who follow this twisted version’…. We have to stop saying its not all like that, I know, but we have to face the reality that many are like that, and face it…… Going back into my ignorant box, you enjoy your denial box…..
It is an Ideology n a par or far worse than Nazism
The few remaining Christians in places like Pakistan are easy targets now. Whoever is behind this atrocity, it was deliberately horrific and intentionally provocative to Christians celebrating Easter. It’s guaranteed to have its desired effect of ratcheting up tensions in the region.
It is common for people to believe that when things are bad that they won’t get much worse before it starts getting better….
When it comes to Islamic extremism and the way we are currently dealing with it in the west, we will have to accept that it will get far far worse before it improves, unless we change the appeasement, soft touch nature in the way we are currently dealing with it.
Christians being blown up yet we are welcomings those who condem our religion and way of life, makes no sense
RIP to all the unfortunate victims, who were peacefully celebrating Easter, like good Christians do.
And to hell with the hate-filled evil ideology that prompted a lunatic to murder them all.
The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’+
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them”
etc…etc…
The Bible is just as bad in fairness. All religion is a scurge on humanity. Always has been.
And while our regressive left brothers and sisters hate little israel with such unforgiving passion…christians there can visit amusement parks without fear of being bombed BECAUSE they are christian….
There is an evil that flows through the veins of some religions more than others
John Sheahan
Don’t be stupid, – The Christian Bible is a historical document, written by men. The Quran however, is supposed to be the unchanging word of ‘Allah’ – the god of Muslims.
And before some idiot says they are the same God, – they are NOT….!!
In fact, when Muslims shout “Allahuakbar” – they are actually saying, “our Allah is greater than your God.”
Jesus- Peaceful hippie who fed the poor and healed the sick Mohammad- Authoritarian warlord who committed genocide and raped children. Some religions are more evil than others.
Now now,you can’t use the ‘my book is a little less evil than yours’ defence,it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Please point out the part in the New Testament where the Old Testament is discarded. Yes,Christians can practice freely in Israel,but can Muslims? No. Your point is moot. You people come up with the most idiotic comments,and consistently.
Vladimir – my point is there is no God and all religions spew the same venom within their books. And the Old Testament is full to the brim of violence, rape, incest and prettying anything else negative you can think of. It’s portrays a vengeful, murderous God.
@Richard
You are a fool, and a terrible troll.
Equating the violence of Christianity to the barbarity of Islam that is growing EVERY DAY, haha the idiocy of the left knows no bounds.
If it’s on YouTube it must be true! Travis,Christian countries with Catholic and Christian leaders have caused more wars,killed more people and destroyed more countries than any other religion in history.
So the dome on the rock is some sort of youth club, along with all the other mosques in Israel? Google a list of mosques in Israel. There’s plenty. This along with all suicide bombings, whomever the victims is an unforgivable atrocity. I condemn it and all the actions of fundamentalist Islam. It’s a minority in islam, but one that is growing at an alarming rate.
9/11 changed everything.
Eight countries have the bomb:USA, Russia, India, France, Pakistan, Israel, Britain and China. North Korea and Iran would love one. South Korea, Germany and Japan could easily have one, and who knows. An arms race coupled with nationalism led to the first World War a hundred years ago. A third World War would finish us.
There are two million Muslims in Israel Please go there loads of mosques all have call to prayer at 5am Years ago Jews were driven out of Muslim countries in the middle east
We need to stop fighting with each other.
Jamie, Israel are probably a nuclear power, but it’s never been confirmed either way. It’s probably enough of a deterrent if your enemies believe you have it though – I think that’s Kim Young ‘un’s strategy in NK…
Oh they have it alright. Surrounded by 500 million crazies who wish to wipe them from the face of the Earth. You’d need a deterrent of sorts.
How can you even fight this? I see no end to it
It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Just hoping against hope that Trump isn’t elected. It’ll only add fuel to the fire.
Seriously, do you think these degenerates who massacre innocents give a shit who’s in the Oval office? What the fcuk have Christian Pakistani women and children got to do with whoever is in the White House?
This thing is gone too deep. This conflict could be the ruination of us. Weird but there’s talk in the Bible of this scenario.
This is such sad news. And so many children are most likely to have been caught up in today’s violence. It doesn’t matter if they’re Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, atheist and so on…… people are people.there is no negotiating with terrorists who target innocent people to make a stand. I’m a Catholic and proud to be one. I love my faith and what i know it to be. It is often twisted around by people who comment on the journal who have no real interest in anything else other than mocking and hating those who practice a religion.You know who you are.you may be far from bombing innocent ppl for their beliefs. But you still show your hatred and intolerance for those who think differently to you. May all the victims in today’s violence rest in peace and those who survived be comforted in their pain.
I see The Religion of Peace (TM) is spreading its message of love and tolerance via the detonator again.
Those poor children
Islam I think we can all agree, is followed by loads of normal and good Muslims, but unfortunately there is also quite high number of nutters in this group. Also they seem to come from various backgrounds. Most recent examples: Muslim shopkeeper murdered by another Muslim for wishing Christians happy Easter, or Brussels’s bomber who appears to be some well educated freelancer.
Also integration seem not to have much effect on them, i.e. these terrorist do not come only from Middle East direct, they appear to be born and raised European citizens of Middle East or African descent.
My point, it’s impossible to select risk group within Muslims, it can be anybody that becomes terrorist. Well integrated into EU country or not, well educated or not, male or female, rich or poor.
Very dangerous is the fact that all these people seem to have blind and strong believe into some non existent fairy in the sky called Allah.
The bad news is I cannot see viable solution to stop these attacks – only relatively safe are the countries with smallest population of Muslims – thumb me down, but it’s a fact backed up by all the evidence / statistics.
God love all those innocent children and people who were slaughtered by thugs who have no respect for human life. My deepest sympathy goes out to their families. God love them.
The Taliban have confirmed that Christians were the target. Christians do suffer persecution in Pakistan, the information is out there.
Guys each and everyone ye media idio**. I’m in pakistan after 7 years in Galway. I came here for 1 month. These people in the park have nothing at all of one single but to do with Christians having easter celebrations. Not one single bit. I went to this very same park myself. Good luck to this planet with the media. Media especially the journal you are lying f**ls. Your just trying to show the Irish how bad Muslims are in pakistan with christains when it’s nothing like that. I’m telling you from an eye wittnes point of view I’m here after a very long time no one is depreciating between religions here it is only the journal that is telling lies big big lies that’s how ye make money. A lot of Muslims also died in this attack more then that they were all pakistani so dear journal and followers find out the truth be fire speaking against a religion or country because I wouldn’t do that to you so you shouldn’t do that to us and defame our religion. Lying p**s the entire crew of the journal. Telling lies to your readers everyday. This attack has nothing to do with Christians or easter so stop talking threw your backside and use your brains if the almighty God gave you any. And all the red thumbs are very appreciated cause like journal like followers yet love their lies also that’s what keeps ye lot going. One last thing world war 3 will be started by the media. Cause they are all hungry for money liying egits
Fair enough man, but at the end of the day you have media coming at you from all angles 24/7, especially if you seek news. You make up your own mind, and you discuss.
Talking is better than war but there’s no money in it. Slaughter and misery, that’s where the profits are at.
Jamie very true indeed.. but our media is broadcasted live around the world. European is. A lot and lot of people on twitter said and I qou ” thank God for Twitter or I wouldn’t have know of the Pakistan attacks”. Our voice is not heard around I’m being dead honest. Point I’m trying to make is straight instead of the journal saying easter celebrating Christians were killed when there were many more Muslims there journal should have wrote such and such amount of people died. This headline is entirely false and is just to create hatred between religions. I mean look at it this way only 2 terrorists killed these innocent lives but look at the hundreds of other Muslims who are at Lahore hospital this present moment donating blood to the so called “christains ” who journal claims Muslims hate. I assure you James I or my country or my religion have not one single bit of hatred for christains. Sure my best friends in NUIG are christains we all love each other. It’s all this media crap that divides everyone. Why wasn’t the Facebook profile changed this time like it did for Paris where oyster less then 15 people got killed in the cartoon making incident. 3 million people VIPs went to match in France including the heartless Benjamin from isreal who has killed millions of innocents. Why no one is marching in pakistan. Cause the ugly truth they know it’s a Muslim country their not going to bother. James a lot of incidents happen in pakistan we onyx find out from Facebook when we subscribe to certain pages then only. Other then that we never know but when only one person gets killed by a Muslim abroad we have profile picture changing racial graffiti hijabs being thrown around all the news channels going on for weeks and weeks.
Another Muslim in total denial mode,
“98% of Terror Attacks today are related to Islamic Extremism.
99% of Terror Deaths today are Muslims, killed principally by other Muslims.
200 Muslims die each day because of terror.
2000 Muslims die by violent terror, ethnic violence, and wars each week in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This goes on 24/7/365.
If Muslims refuse to see a Jihadi Terror Problem in their midst, then it will
NEVER be fixed.
Over 100,000 Muslims will die by terror this year. And the next year, and the
next year…
And the deaths will continue until the denial ends!
William you are another Christian who worships a human as God and prays to a statue. Mary wears a veil in all her pictures but when a Muslim wears it ye call her terrorist. That’s your shitty brain. And all these figures you’ve gotten are made up from you f***** up brainwashed by your dirty media mind. 1.6 billion Muslims in the world if we were all terrorists you William probably would be dead by now. The reason 98% of attacks are done by Muslims is because when a now Muslim does it your media puts the headline as a gun attack or a gang war. But when a Muslim does it they straight away without even thinking name it a terror attack. When ye do anything wrong ye get called mentally I’ll we get called terrorists straight away. Like your German pilot who killed over 200 people on board the plane he crashed last year. He was addressed as a mentally I’ll Guy. Why was he not called a terrorist. Every individual that kills for no reason is a terrorist but your media only and only labels this term for Muslims. If you can even spot out one incident a non Muslim did and he was called a terrorist… I think not because there is non. Ye get away cause your media makes money by saying all this to Muslims while brainless people like you sit home reading this and thinking you are an expert in Islam. World war 1 not caused by Muslims and World war 2 not Muslim Hitler killing millions not Muslim Thousands killed in Afghanistan by USA militants not Muslims 3 million deaths in Cambodia not by Muslims 12 million deaths in iraq were not caused by Muslims. Twin towers attack 9. 11 is proved was an inside job which millions of Muslims suffer for every day. Next time you say something William get your facts right.
oops Ahmed, no other religion comes remotely close to Islam when it comes to terror.keep on denying your religion is peace, but only when the whole damn world is Islamic, and then we will have peace yeah?
Oh but we better get rid of the shiah and sufi etc etc, to have the perfect Islamic world?
It is not yet known who or how many were involved in this attack and it is a bit quick to assume that Islamist were targeting christians.
It was Christians being blown up in Pakistan, who else could it possibly be?
Maybe reread the article because you’re missing something missyb
Missy….you are of course correct….65 dead christians in an overwhelmingly sunni muslim country could just be a coincidence….maybe the bomber planned to detonate himself at the wahabbi kareoke just down by the bazaar…you know..beside the paddy powers..
Lame
After the army crack down called Zarb e asb, in peshawar city north west , at the area Waziristan, more than 3000 Taliban were killed some were pushed back to Afghanistan, all most every suicide attack is being remotely done by them, with the help of indian spys, and iran. its a v hard situation for pakistan to to loose army men plus civilian on daily bases.
have your say