Pakistan is in mourning after 72 people were killed in a terrorist bombing in a park in Lahore.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised British help for Pakistan, which has started observing a three-day mourning period following the Easter Sunday attack.
The device - believed to have been carried by a suicide bomber - was detonated near children's rides while families celebrated Easter in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
A breakaway Pakistani faction of the Taliban claimed responsibility for the carnage and said it had deliberately targeted the Christian community.
However most of those killed were Muslims - with 14 having been identified as Christians, according to Lahore Police Superintendent Mohammed Iqbal.
More than 300 were injured in the attack, many seriously.
Mr Cameron, who used his Easter message to urge Britons of all faiths to stand up for Christian values, said he was shocked by the attack.
"My thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims. We will do what we can to help," the PM posted on his Twitter feed.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "My thoughts are with the victims and the family of the victims of the horrific attack in Lahore.
"Solidarity with the emergency services there."
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said British nationals were advised to avoid the area and monitor travel advice updates and local media.
"My thoughts are with the victims and their families," he said.
"The UK utterly condemns these senseless acts of violence.
"We will continue to provide support and assistance to the government of Pakistan as they work to defeat those who plan and perpetrate these acts of terror."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel