Militant group Islamic State said on Tuesday that fighters loyal to its movement attacked a police training college in Quetta in a raid that officials said killed 59 people and wounded more than 100. Pakistani authorities have blamed another militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), for the late-Monday siege, though the Islamic State claim included photographs of three alleged attackers.
Islamic State's Amaq news agency published the claim of responsibility, saying three IS fighters "used machine guns and grenades, then blew up their explosive vests in the crowd." "We came to know from the communication intercepts that there were three militants who were getting instructions from Afghanistan," Afgun said, adding the Al Alami faction of LeJ was behind the attack.
LeJ, whose roots are in the heartland Punjab province, has a history of carrying out sectarian attacks in Baluchistan, particularly against the minority Hazara Shias. Pakistan has previously accused LeJ of colluding with al Qaeda. Authorities launched a crackdown against LeJ last year, particularly in Punjab province. In a blow to the organisation, Malik Ishaq, the group's leader, was killed in July 2015 with 13 members of the central leadership in what police say was a failed escape attempt. The Hakeemullah Mehsud faction of the Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for the attack in an emailed statement, but when members of the group were asked about the statement, they could not confirm it was authentic.
ISLAMIC STATE Pakistan has improved its security situation in recent years, but Islamist groups continue to pose a threat and stage attacks in the mainly Muslim nation of 190 million. Islamic State, which established a self-proclaimed Muslim caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, has sought to make inroads over the past year, hoping to exploit Pakistan's sectarian divisions.
The military had dismissed previous IS claims of responsibility as "propaganda", and last month said it had crushed the Middle East-based group's attempt to expand in Pakistan. A photograph of the three alleged attackers released by IS showed one with a striking resemblance to the picture of a dead gunman taken by a policeman inside the college, and shared with Reuters.