Pakistan bombing: Suspects, arms seized after attack on Christians kills 69

By Sophia Saifi, Holly Yan and Daniyal Hassan, CNN 

Lahore, Pakistan (CNN)Security forces, hunting for suspects in the deadly Easter Sunday bombing targeting Christians in a Lahore park, raided locations in three cities overnight and arrested suspected terrorists, a military spokesman said Monday on Twitter.

No details were given on who had been arrested or what role -- if any -- they may have played in the bombing, which killed at least 69 people, a local government spokesman told CNN.

The blast injured more than 341 others, Punjab government spokesman Jehangir Awan said.

A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had targeted Christians. The group vowed more such attacks.

The overnight raids by military and intelligence agencies targeted locations in three cities across the Pakistani province of Punjab, including Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa tweeted.

In addition to the unspecified number of arrests of suspected "terrorists and facilitators," forces also recovered a "huge cache of arms and ammunition," Bajwa said.

 

Operations were continuing, "with more leads coming in," he tweeted.

Sunday's attack came at a poignant time for Pakistan's Christians, some of whom were in the city's Gulshan Iqbal Park to celebrate Easter on Sunday evening.

The religious group makes up only 2% of the population, and tensions are high between them and a hardline Muslim core that wants to see a strict interpretation of Islamic law take precedence in Pakistan's legal system.

'Dead bodies ... everywhere'

One witness named Danish was at the amusement park with his two sisters.

"It was so crowded that there was even no way of entering it," he told reporters. "There was suddenly a big blast. Everyone panicked, running to all directions. Many of them were blocked at the gate of the park. Dead bodies can be found everywhere."

He said one of his sisters died; the other was wounded.

"The object (that) hit her looks like a piece of hard iron, and it burned her in the neck," Danish said.