Pakistan explosion leaves many dead at Lahore park.
At least 60 people have been killed and scores of others injured in an explosion at a park in the Pakistani city of Lahore, officials say.
It happened in the early evening when the park was crowded with families.
Police told the BBC it appeared to be a suicide bomb. No group has said it was behind the blast*.
There is speculation that Christian families out for the Easter weekend may have been the target, says the BBC's Shaimaa Khalil, in Lahore.
All the major hospitals in the area have been put on an emergency footing.
The explosion appears to have been at the main gate to the Gulshan-e-Iqbal park in an area where cars are usually left - and a short distance from the children's swings.
Most of the dead and injured are women and children, a senior local police officer told Reuters news agency.
One eyewitness said there was chaos, with a stampede breaking out and children separated from their parents in the rush to escape.
Another man told Pakistan's Geo TV station he was heading towards a ride with his wife and two children when he heard a huge bang and all four of them were thrown to the floor.
Hasan Imran, 30, a local resident who had gone to the park for a walk told Reuters: "When the blast occurred, the flames were so high they reached above the trees and I saw bodies flying in the air."
A health adviser to the regional government said more than 280 people had been injured and it was feared the number of dead would rise further.
The agency also reported that the army was called in to control crowds outside the park.
Facebook has activated its feature for people in Lahore to mark themselves as safe.
Lahore is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan's largest and wealthiest province and the political powerbase of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The country's President, Mamnoon Hussain, has strongly condemned the explosion and the Punjab government has announced three days of mourning.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and campaigner Malala Yousafzai tweeted that she was "devastated by the senseless killing of innocent people in Lahore."
Pakistan has suffered regular incidents of Taliban-related violence, sectarian strife and criminal gang activity.
Meanwhile in the capital, Islamabad, police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters who marched in support of Islamist gunman Mumtaz Qadri, who they see as a religious hero.
Qadri was hanged last month for the murder of Punjab governor Salman Taseer five years ago.
Mr Taseer had defended a Christian woman jailed on blasphemy charges.
*
BREAKING: Pakistani Taliban faction tells AP it's responsible for an Easter bomb attack in a Lahore park that killed 60, wounded 300
- The Associated Press (@AP) March 27, 2016
Apparently the death toll is 70 and rising. :(
source tweet