Bomb kills at least 25 at Pakistan shrine – officials

QUETTA, Pakistan – At least 25 people died and 35 others were injured when a bomb exploded at a Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Saturday, November 12, officials said.

The blast hit a crowd of worshippers participating in a ceremony at the shrine of Sufi saint Shah Noorani in Khuzdar district, some 760 kilometers (472 miles) south of provincial capital Quetta.

“At least 25 people have been killed in a bomb blast at Shah Noorani shrine,” local government official Mohammad Hashim told Agence France-Presse.

Another official, Zulfiqar Hashmi, confirmed the deaths and said that more than 35 people had suffered injuries.

Hakim Lasi, a rescue official with the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest welfare organization, told Geo TV channel the charity had received reports via wireless radio saying that up to 30 people had been killed and nearly 100 others wounded, including women and children.

Local officials said worshippers were taking part in a devotional dance session, which is held daily before dusk, when the blast occurred.

Rescuers were scrambling to reach the shrine, which is located in a remote, mountainous region with limited medical facilities.

Authorities have dispatched ambulances and medical workers from Karachi, a three-hour drive from the blast site.

Up to 600 people were at the shrine at the time of the attack, according to local official Tariq Mengal, who told Geo TV that many devotees travelled to the site from Karachi during weekends.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which follows the killing of Amjad Sabri, a renowned Sufi singer, by two gunmen in Karachi in June.

Some observers have said that Sabri may have been assassinated because he was a high-profile Sufi.

Sufism, a mystic Islamic order that believes in living saints, worships through music, and is viewed as heretical by some hardline groups including the Taliban.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has oil and gas resources but is afflicted by Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and a separatist insurgency.

Local militants claimed to have worked with the Islamic State group to attack a police academy in Balochistan last month, killing 61 people in the deadliest assault on a security installation in Pakistan’s history.

In August, a suicide bombing at a Quetta hospital claimed by the Islamic State group and a faction of the Pakistani Taliban killed 73 people. – Rappler.com