Gunmen attack hospital in Pakistan, kill at least 8 people, says government official

Gunmen attack hospital in Pakistan, kill 8 people

LAHORE, Pakistan — At least two gunmen disguised in police uniforms attacked a hospital in eastern Pakistan late Monday where doctors were treating a captured militant, killing eight people and taking several patients hostage, said officials.

It was unclear whether the attack in Lahore was aimed at releasing the militant, who was part of a group of gunmen who attacked a minority sect in the city on Friday and killed 93 people. Several people who were wounded in Friday’s attacks were also being treated, said Muazzam Ali, a doctor.

The gunmen stormed Jinnah Hospital in a hail of gunfire shortly before midnight Monday, said Rana Sanaullah, the law minister in Punjab province where Lahore is the capital. Five of the eight people killed in the attack were policemen, he said.

One of the gunmen climbed up to the roof and was shooting at police who surrounded the building, said Sanaullah.

Lahore has experienced a string of deadly attacks in the past year by militants who have declared war on both the government and minority groups in the country.

Friday’s attacks against two mosques in Lahore targeted the Ahmadi sect, a minority reviled as heretics by mainstream Muslims. Seven gunmen attacked the mosques with assault rifles, grenades and suicide vests. At least two of the attackers were captured, while some died in the standoff or by detonating their explosives.

Police have said the men who attacked the mosques in Lahore were part of the Pakistani Taliban and trained in the North Waziristan tribal region. Authorities have arrested at least seven other men allegedly linked to the attacks who were members of a variety of banned militant groups.