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Pakistan: IS attack on Sufi shrine in Sindh kills dozens | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A suicide attack in a popular shrine in southern Pakistan has killed at least 50 people, reports say. | |
The bomber blew himself up among devotees in the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan, in Sindh province, police said. | |
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the attack, which has been claimed by so-called Islamic State. | |
The shrine was crowded as Thursday is considered a sacred day for Muslims to pray there. | |
The blast, in one of the country's most revered shrines, is the largest in a string of bombings in Pakistan this week, claimed by the Pakistan Taliban and other Islamist militants. | |
Dozens of others were injured. Nearby medical facilities were said to be insufficient to handle large-scale casualties, and those that could were two hours' drive away in Jamshoro and Hyderabad. | |
In a statement, Mr Sharif vowed to fight Islamist militants who have carried out attacks in Pakistan. | |
"The past few days have been hard, and my heart is with the victims," he said. | |
"But we can't let these events divide us, or scare us. We must stand united in this struggle for the Pakistani identity, and universal humanity." | "But we can't let these events divide us, or scare us. We must stand united in this struggle for the Pakistani identity, and universal humanity." |
At least seven people were killed on Wednesday and several more injured in two separate suicide bombings in the country's north-west. | At least seven people were killed on Wednesday and several more injured in two separate suicide bombings in the country's north-west. |
And on Monday, a suicide bombing in the eastern city of Lahore killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 100. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, said it had carried out that attack. | |