Lahore Attack; The Latest Incident by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Taliban in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday in a park in eastern Lahore that left at least 70 dead. This is the latest in a series of brutal attacks by this group. According to Reuters, the Sunday attack targeted Christians and others celebrating Easter and was the second attack by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar on Christians in Lahore since last year. The suicide bombing on Sunday also signifies a shift in the strategy of extremist Islamist groups in Pakistan since the beginning of last year. Since then, most of these groups' attacks have specifically targeted religious minorities, including followers of Islamic sects that are in the minority. Pakistani government officials have expressed concern that the spread of the worldview of the group known as the "Islamic Caliphate," which emphasizes the killing of followers of other religions and Shia Muslims, will exacerbate sectarian violence in Pakistan. The majority of Pakistan's 190 million population is Sunni. Shia Muslims make up about 20%, Christians about 2%, and Hindus and Ahmadis together account for about 1% of the country's population. Reuters has compiled a list of attacks by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar since the beginning of 2015, showing an escalation of the group's attacks in recent times. * January 9, 2015: Eight people were killed in a bomb explosion at a Shia mosque in Rawalpindi, northern Pakistan. * March 15, 2015: A bombing at two churches in Lahore killed 14 Christians and sparked a rebellion. * December 29, 2015: An attack on a government building in Mardan, located 100 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, killed 23 people. * February 18, 2016: During two separate attacks on police checkpoints 160 kilometers from Islamabad and in the tribal areas of Mohmand, the main base of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, 9 personnel of government paramilitary units were killed. * March 1, 2016: Two Pakistani employees of the U.S. consulate were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the tribal areas of Mohmand. * March 7, 2016: A suicide bombing at the courts in Shabqadar, 145 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, killed 10 people. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claims this attack was in retaliation for the execution of Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated a governor in 2011 for what was deemed blasphemy by extremist groups. * March 27, 2016: A suicide bomber attacked a park in eastern Lahore, killing at least 70 people. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claims the target of this attack was Christians celebrating Easter. In this context, Nawaz Sharif's promise to eliminate terrorists after the bloody Lahore explosion, the U.S. commitment to continue cooperation with Pakistan to combat terrorism, and the Taliban's acceptance of responsibility for the Lahore explosion, stating that "Christians were the target," are significant. Dozens were killed in the Lahore explosion, with "most victims being women and children."