A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Quetta that killed nearly 70 people and injured around 100 on Monday.

"We claim the responsibility for the Quetta martyrdom attack," the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP JA)said.

"The TTP JA first targeted Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the local lawyers association, and then a bomber struck the protesting lawyers and the gov't officials," the TTP JA spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a statement sent to the local media. He warned of more such attacks.

TTP JA is a splinter group mainly comprised of the Taliban militants from Mohmand tribal region that border Afghanistan.

The group is considered more hardliner within the Taliban and routinely claims responsibility for attacks in the country.

Meanwhile, Minister for State for Interior, Baleegh ur Rehman, told the National Assembly on Monday evening that 69 people were confirmed dead and 108 others were injured.

Source : XINHUA