At least 65 people were killed and as many as 280 injured in an explosion at a park in the Pakistani city of Lahore, which, according to the BBC, were Christian families out for the Easter weekend. The bomb went off in the early evening when the park was crowded with families.
The Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the attack. “The target were Christians,” a spokesman for the faction said in a statement. “We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won’t be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks.”
Eyewitnesses told Reuters they saw body parts lying across the Gulshan-e-Iqbal park’s parking lot. “When the blast occurred, the flames were so high they reached above the trees and I saw bodies flying in the air,” Hasan Imran, 30, told Reuters.
Facebook has apologized for sending out security check notifications to users across the world Sunday after the blast in Pakistan. The feature urges Facebook users to connect with friends and family during disasters to let them know they’re safe. The notification said, “Are you OK? It looks like you’re in the area affected by [the explosion]. Let friends know that you’re safe.”
Facebook said some users accidentally received the message. “We have activated Safety Check in Lahore. We apologize to anyone who mistakenly received a notification outside of Pakistan and are working to resolve the issue,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.