ISIS suicide bomber kills 70 at Pakistan shrine

At least 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded on Thursday when a bomb ripped through a revered Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan, officials said, after a series of attacks which have shaken optimism over recent improvements in security.

Amaq, a news agency affiliated to ISIS, claimed the terrorist group had carried out the attack, which was the deadliest in Pakistan so far this year. It was also the latest such attack on devotees of Sufism, a mystical and generally moderate form of Islam despised by radical fundamentalists.

It was reportedly the busiest day of the week at the shrine to 13th century Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, a town in Sindh province.

A police source said a suicide bomber entered the shrine and blew himself up among hundreds of devotees.

“The explosion took place when a large number of people were inside the shrine boundary,” a local police officer said. “A huge number of people come to the shrine every Thursday to take part in ritual dances and prayers. It is not possible to ensure the security of every person coming and going.”

Pakistan closed its border with Afghanistan late Thursday, citing security reasons as in past attacks Islamabad has accused Kabul of harbouring Pakistani militants. Kabul also regularly points the finger at Pakistan for sending militants to carry out bombings in the war torn country.

Provincial health minister Sikandar Ali Mandhro said at least 70 people had died while 250 were wounded, 40 of them critically.

Images of the shrine showed blood smeared on the white floor around the grave, with debris and shoes scattered around.