Pakistan: At least 18 killed, others wounded in suicide attack at Balochistan Sufi shrine
Sunday, October 8, 2017
According to varying reports, at least eighteen people were killed and at least 20 were injured in a suicide attack at Fateh Pur shrine in Jhal Magsi district, located in Pakistan’s western province of Balochistan on Thursday.
Devotees had gathered at the shrine, built in honour of Saint Pir Rakhel Shah, for the annual anniversary ritual. A policeman reportedly stopped the attacker at the gate of shrine before the attacker detonated the bomb. Local official Asad Kakar said, “Suicide bomber struck outside the shrine at the time it was packed with people”. The militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack via the Amaq News Agency.
There have been several other attacks on Sufi shrines. In February, about 80 people were killed in a suicide attack in Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Sehwan, a town in Sindh province. About 50 people were killed in another attack on the shrine of Shah Noorani, located in Hub, Balochistan, on November 12, 2016. ISIL claimed responsibility for both.