People are sharing #PrayForPakistan after explosion leaves 70 dead and 300 injured

Mostly women and children were injured in the attack on Easter Sunday

A man carries an injured child to a hospital in Lahore. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty)

People across the world are sharing messages of solidarity after at least 70 people were killed and 300 others injured after a terror attack near a children's park in Lahore.

A senior police officer told Reuters that mostly women and children were injured in the blast, which appeared to be by a suicide bomber.

Jamaat-e-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group said it was targeting members of the Christian community celebrating Easter, a spokesman told multiple press agencies.

Shortly after the tragedy unfolded, people began sharing images of the Pakistani flag and a sketch of the Minar-e-Paristan, similar to Eiffel Tower’s image shared after the Paris Attacks.

Others wondered if there would have been more media coverage and stronger political responses had a European country been attacked.

And some tweeted images of the Eiffel Tower lit up in colours similar to Pakistani's national flag, but the photos appear to be taken after South Africa's 2007 Rugby World Cup win.

On Monday, Pope Francis decried what he calls the vile and abominable act and insisted religious minorities must be protected.

He called on authorities in Pakistan to "make every effort to restore security and serenity" to Pakistanis, particularly religious minorities in the largely Muslim Asian nation.