On Easter Sunday, 72 people were killed at a major park in Lahore, Pakistan. Twenty-nine of these deaths included children, and over 300 people were injured in the attack. Early reports from officials linked the suicide bomber with the Taliban targeted the park, which is a popular place for families to celebrate Easter.

Jaamat-ul-Ahrar, an offshoot group of the Pakastani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack and said that they specifically targeted Christians. According to recent reports from the British Pakastani Christian Association, 29 of the victims were Christians. The Gulshan-e-Iqbal is already one of the largest parks in Lahore, and had an unusually large crowd due to Easter. A representative from the association explained that it is often a common tradition for Christian families to celebrate Easter at a local fair, or a park just like Gulsha-e-Iqbal.

The Los Angeles Times reported that many Christian communities throughout Pakistan did take precautions in the week leading up to Easter Sunday, and that government forces were often placed as security around major Christian neighborhoods. But witnesses said the park was a soft target, with scant security on Sunday evening.” As one of Pakistan’s deadliest attacks in recent history, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responded with strong words. “Terrorists have assassinated my sons and daughters in this war and, God willing, we will wipe them out from this country.”

However, this is not the first attack targeted at Lahore Christians in the past year. Last May, at least 15 Christians were killed when Pakastani Taliban militants targeted two churches on the same day. While the Christian community in Lahore took precautions during Holy Week, there was little security at the park as attention was primarily focused on large public centers rather than neighborhoods. With a population of 182 million, only two percent of the population identifies as Christian.

In the aftermath of the attack, Muhammad Imtiaz was focused on the child victims asking, “What was the crime of these kids, whether they were from Christian or Muslim families?” Imtiaz’s brother-in-law was killed, his sister is still to be accounted for and two of his nephews were injured in the blast.

In response to the attack, Pakistan’s army is set to conduct a full operation against extremist strongholds thought to be primarily located in the eastern state of Punjab.

In recent reports, Pakastani counter-terrorism police have taken in 5221 suspects in Punjab, 5005 of which have been released since. Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister, reported that at least 1000 of those arrested are on a list of suspected people involved with hate-speech and anti-state activities.

However, critics have been skeptical of the effectiveness of the government’s response. Saifullah Mehsud, executive director of the FATA Research Center, said, “This is an exercise these security agencies carry out after every attack of this nature…This is more for the consumption of the public. They just round up these guys, and after a few days, when the furor dies down, they release them for lack of evidence. I don’t see it as any meaningful action.”

Imtiaz recounted the scene at the hospital, “There were bodies everywhere. I saw blood on the floor of the hospital while dozens of injured were crying. They were horrible scenes.” With the hospital running out of blood due to the large numbers of victims and patients, many Lahore residents came to the hospital to donate blood. Long lines crowded the hospitals as other activists organized forms to supply additional food, medicine and wheelchairs. With the help of social media, many others have been urging people in the area to come help the hospitals by donating blood.