Washington condemns inhuman attacks in Pakistan

QUETTA (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) -  Two suicide bombers killed 92 people and wounded 121 when they targeted a crowded snooker club in the southwestern city of Quetta Thursday, in an area dominated by Shia Muslims from the Hazara ethnic minority.US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Friday said Washington offered “the families of those killed in these brutal attacks in Quetta, in Swat, in Karachi... our deepest condolences”.“We obviously stand with the people of Pakistan in strongly condemning these senseless and inhumane acts,” she added.“We remain concerned about extremist violence of any kind in Pakistan and remain committed to working with the government of Pakistan to combat terror.”Extremist Deobandi militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for what was the worst ever sectarian attack on Shias, who account for around 20 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million population.Hundreds of Shias staged a sit-in at the devastated snooker hall on Friday, refusing to bury loved ones until the army takes responsibility for security in Quetta from paramilitary and police officers.The government in Baluchistan province, which is also fighting a separatist insurgency, announced three days of mourning, but the protesters squatted on the road alongside around 30 bodies draped in shrouds and placed in coffins.It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since suicide bombers killed 98 people outside a police training centre in the northwest in 2011 -- an assault claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.The first bomber struck inside the building then, 10 minutes later, an attacker in a car blew himself up as police, media workers and rescue teams rushed to the site, said police officer Mir Zubair Mehmood.Police official Hamid Shakeel put the death toll at 92.Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility in telephone calls to local journalists. The group has links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban./129