Pakistan holds Wagah ceremony after requesting India to suspend it

According to media reports, Pakistan not only conducted the ceremony but also allowed tourists in the area after convincing India to suspend the flag-lowering ceremony which India followed. 

 

India's Border Security Force (BSF) was on alert since the explosion. 

 

About 60 people, including many women and children, were killed in a blast near the Wagah border in Pakistan on Sunday  even as the responsibility of the suicide attack was claimed by two outfits- Jundullah and TTP-affiliated Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

About 110 people were also injured in the attack in which several children and women also died, according to media reports. 

The blast occurred after the flag- lowering ceremony at the Indo-Pak land border crossing. The suicide bomber chose to strike at the Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India known for the famous ritual flag-lowering ceremony.

The newly formed Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed they were behind the Wagah border attack as its spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking to Dawn on telephone from Afghanistan, said it was carried out by one of their men.

"We will continue such attacks in the future," Ehsan told Dawn News.

"Some other groups have claimed responsibility of this attack, but these claims are baseless. We will soon release the video of this attack," he said.

"This attack is revenge for the killing of those innocent people in North Waziristan," the banned militant group's spokesman said.