Yet another terrorist atrocity:
It has been reported by AP here that sixty people have been killed and 300 wounded by what appears to have been a bomb blast in a park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Easter Sunday.
The explosion took place near the children's rides in Gulshan-e-Iqbal park — which was crowded with Christians celebrating Easter —local police chief Haider Ashraf said. He said the explosion appeared to have been a suicide bombing, but investigations were ongoing.
Lahore district government official Mohammad Usman said he believed the park was struck because it is a "soft target," and not because of the Christian celebrations. He did not elaborate.
The explosion took place near the children's rides in Gulshan-e-Iqbal park — which was crowded with Christians celebrating Easter —local police chief Haider Ashraf said. He said the explosion appeared to have been a suicide bombing, but investigations were ongoing.
Lahore district government official Mohammad Usman said he believed the park was struck because it is a "soft target," and not because of the Christian celebrations. He did not elaborate.
Zaeem Qadri, a spokesman for the Punjab provincial government, said the wounded had been taken to six hospitals in Lahore. He added that Punjab's chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has declared three days of mourning and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Whether or not this attack was meant to kill people for being Christians there is no doubt that if, as appears to be the case, it was a suicide bombing then the perpetrators would have to have intended to kill and maim large numbers of women and children. There really are no adequate words to describe how evil that is.
May all the victims rest in peace.
We do not yet know whether this attack was carried out in the name of any religion, but if it was, the people concerned have perverted that religion and we need to do everything in our power to defeat that kind of perversion.
Whether or not this attack was meant to kill people for being Christians there is no doubt that if, as appears to be the case, it was a suicide bombing then the perpetrators would have to have intended to kill and maim large numbers of women and children. There really are no adequate words to describe how evil that is.
May all the victims rest in peace.
We do not yet know whether this attack was carried out in the name of any religion, but if it was, the people concerned have perverted that religion and we need to do everything in our power to defeat that kind of perversion.
Comments
Without going into detail on my own (pretty obvious feelings) on this incident, I think it better to re-enforce a mindset we need to take seriously.
Never, ever underestimate your enemy.
Dont ever think that something is beyond them - for example the Nazi's confidence that enigma and tunny were unbreakable ciphers, and the UK had no chance of breaking them.
Don't think something is beneath them - for example our long standing belief that no one targets children.
Don't think something is too much effort for them - No one would invest that much time and effort just to get in here.
Never think something is beyond, beneath, above, below, or unrealistic for them.
It can and it will be be fatal to you when you find out its not, or they can, or they will or, worst of all, they have.
Its a good mantra to live by that, "Never underestimate your enemy", though it goes pretty much double when its written "Never underestimate a terrorist"