10 killed at popular Sufi shrine by suicide blast
Print Edition
A SUICIDE blast at one of Pakistan鈥檚 oldest and most popular Sufi shrines killed at least 10 people and wounded 24 in the eastern city of Lahore yesterday, police said, in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
The blast, which a faction of the militant group claimed by e-mail, occurred near the entrance gate for female visitors to the 11th-century Data Darbar shrine, one of the largest Sufi shrines in South Asia, as the country marks the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Husks of vehicles littered the pavement near the shrine as first responders rushed to the scene while armed security forces fanned out in the area.
The emergency room at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore was full of the wounded and people searching for loved ones.
The shrine has long been home to colorful Sufi festivals and a prime destination for the country鈥檚 myriad Muslim sects, making it a soft target for militant attacks. It was targeted in a 2010 suicide attack, which killed more than 40 people.
Since then the area has been increasingly hemmed in by heavy security, with visitors forced to pass through several layers of screening before they can enter the complex.
Sufi worshippers, who follow a mystical strain of Islam, have been the target of bloody attacks in Pakistan by Islamist militants, including the Islamic State group, who consider Sufi beliefs and rituals at the graves of Muslim saints as heresy.
Senior police official Muhammad Ashfaq said security personnel at the shrine were also targeted. Three police officials, two security guards and five civilians including a child were among the dead.
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