Hardline Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar [7] claimed responsibility for an Aug. 8 suicide bombing that killed at least 70 at a hospital in Quetta, capital of restive Balochistan province. The attacker targeted a crowd that had gathered as the body was brought in of Bilal Kasi, a prominent lawyer who had just been assassinated. Several lawyers and journalists were among the dead. (BBC News [8]) Lawyers across the country will boycott court proceedings for three days to protest the attack, the Pakistan Bar Council [9] announced. (Pakistan Express-Tribune [10]) Journalists have also staged demonstrations in various cities, chanting slogans against terrorism and the Balochistan government over a lack of security measures taken despite imminent threat. (Dunya News [11])
