Lawyers apparently targeted in Pakistan hospital attack that killed more than 60
More than 60 people died in a suicide bombing on Monday at a hospital in Pakistan where lawyers had gathered to mourn a slain colleague.
The director of the hospital in Quetta said most of those who died were lawyers, the Washington Post and the Associated Press report. Nearly 100 others were wounded.
Lawyers and other mourners had come to the hospital for slain lawyer Bilal Anwar Kasi, who was shot and killed earlier in the day while on his way to the office. He was among several lawyers recently killed in targeted slayings.
Kasi was an outspoken lawyer who had campaigned for improvements in the lawyer community, according to AP. He was leader of the bar association in the province of Baluchistan where the hospital is located.
Ali Zafar, who leads the main lawyers’ association in Pakistan, called the blast as “an attack on justice.”
On Monday afternoon, the ABA House of Delegates observed a moment of silence for the attorneys massacred in Pakistan during today’s session at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The ABA condemned the attacks in a statement Tuesday by ABA President Paulette Brown. “The American Bar Association’s sympathies and thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all of those who perished and were injured.
“It is particularly troubling that lawyers were targeted in a coordinated assault. In addition to the severe human cost, the attack also strikes at the rule of law. In the end, our shared commitment to justice will win out against these contemptible agents of terror.”
Last updated Aug. 9 to include the ABA statement.
