Pakistani forces killed and arrested dozens of suspects in sweeping raids as the death toll from a massive suicide bombing by the Islamic State group that targeted a famed Sufi shrine the day before rose to 88 on Friday.

The terror attack — Pakistan's deadliest in years — stunned the nation and raised questions about the authorities' ability to rein in militant groups despite several military offensives targeting militant hideouts.

It also threatened to drive a deeper wedge between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Islamabad quickly lashed out at Kabul, saying the bombing was masterminded in militant sanctuaries across the border in Afghanistan.

Underscoring tensions, Pakistan fired a blistering round of artillery shells into Afghan territory on Friday and shut down the Torkham border crossing, a key commercial artery between the two neighbors.

Afghan police chief Gul Agha Roohani in eastern Nangarhar province told The Associated Press the artillery assault began on Friday morning, although there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the shrine attack. "Sufis always preach peace and brotherhood among people," he said in a statement, adding added that "terrorists once again proved that they have no respect for Islamic values."

Meanwhile, raids overnight across Pakistan targeted militant hideouts and led to shootouts with insurgents that left at least 39 suspects dead, according to three Pakistani security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.

Most of the operations were carried out by the paramilitary Rangers. In one raid, troops killed 11 suspects at a militant hideout in the port city of Karachi. In another, the Rangers came under fire as they were returning from Sehwan, the town in southern Sindh province where the shrine bombing took place, and killed seven of the attackers.

Other raids took place in northwestern Pakistan and also in the eastern province of Punjab. The officials said a total of 47 suspects were arrested.

In Thursday's attack, the suicide bomber walked into the main hall at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, and detonated his explosives among a crowd of worshippers, initially killing 75. At least 20 women and nine children were among the dead.

On Friday, authorities raised the death toll to 88 after some of the critically wounded died. The Sindh provincial health department said a total of 343 people were wounded in the attack but that most were discharged after treatment while 76 still remain in hospitals.

The Islamic State group, claiming responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated by its Aamaq news agency, said it targeted a "Shiite gathering." The Sunni extremist group views Shiites as apostates and has targeted Pakistan's Shiite minority in the past. It also views Sufi shrines as a form of idolatry.

The Sehwan shrine, which reveres a Muslim Sufi mystic, is frequented by the faithful of many sects of Islam but the majority of the worshippers are usually Shiite Muslims.

Raja Somro, who witnessed the attack, told a local TV network that hundreds of people were performing a spiritual dance known as the "dhamal" when the bomber struck.

Local TV showed graphic footage of the aftermath of the blast, with wounded worshippers crying out for help and the floors covered with shoes, blood and body parts. Women cried and beat their chests in grief.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that security forces would track down the perpetrators, according to Pakistani state TV.

"Each drop of the nation's blood shall be avenged, and avenged immediately," Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, said in a statement.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack and offered its support to Pakistan in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The attack was the deadliest in Pakistan after the Dec. 16, 2014 assault on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 154 people, mostly schoolchildren. A Taliban-linked group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for that attack.

Pakistan has been at war with the Taliban and other extremist groups for more than a decade. In recent years it has launched major offensives against militant strongholds in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan, but insurgents have continued to carry out attacks elsewhere in the country.

The Islamic State group has been expanding its presence in Pakistan in recent years and has claimed a number of deadly attacks, including a suicide bombing at another Sufi shrine in November 2016 that killed more than 50 people.

The government has downplayed the IS affiliate, insisting that only a small number of militants have pledged allegiance to the group.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of failing to crack down on militants who operate along the porous border.

Also Friday, the Pakistani military handed over to Kabul a list of 76 suspected "terrorists" allegedly hiding in Afghanistan, demanding they be captured and extradited to Islamabad. A statement from the military says the list was given to Afghan officials at the Pakistani army's sprawling headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The military did not specify who was on the list, but it has long claimed that the head of Pakistani Taliban, Mullah Fazlullah, and other militants are hiding on Afghan soil with the purpose of fomenting violence inside Pakistan.

In Sehwan, police fired tear gas on Friday and swung batons to disperse a rally of several hundred protesters who demanded justice for the victims and better security measures from the government. The crowd set fire to a car before the police broke up the rally.

At one of the funerals that got underway Friday, relatives consoled the wailing mother of Zeeshan Ali, a 13-year-old who died in the shrine blast. Ali's uncle, Shoukat Ali, said he was devoted to his nephew and raised him since he had no children of his own.

"I raised him like my own child ... and they took him from me," he said. </s> SEHWAN: Pakistani forces killed and arrested dozens of suspects in sweeping raids as the death toll from a massive suicide bombing by the Islamic State group that targeted a famed Sufi shrine the day before rose to 88 yesterday.

The terror attack – Pakistan’s deadliest in years – stunned the nation and raised questions about the authorities’ ability to rein in militant groups despite several military offensives targeting militant hideouts. It also threatened to drive a deeper wedge between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Islamabad quickly lashed out at Kabul, saying the bombing was masterminded in militant sanctuaries across the border in Afghanistan.

Underscoring tensions, Pakistan fired a blistering round of artillery shells into Afghan territory yesterday and shut down the Torkham border crossing, a key commercial artery between the two neighbors. Afghan police chief Gul Agha Roohani in eastern Nangarhar province told The Associated Press the artillery assault began on Friday morning, although there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the shrine attack. “Sufis always preach peace and brotherhood among people,” he said in a statement, adding added that “terrorists once again proved that they have no respect for Islamic values.”

Militant holdouts

 Meanwhile, raids overnight across Pakistan targeted militant hideouts and led to shootouts with insurgents that left at least 39 suspects dead, according to three Pakistani security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations. Most of the operations were carried out by the paramilitary Rangers.

In one raid, troops killed 11 suspects at a militant hideout in the port city of Karachi. In another, the Rangers came under fire as they were returning from Sehwan, the town in southern Sindh province where the shrine bombing took place, and killed seven of the attackers. Other raids took place in northwestern Pakistan and also in the eastern province of Punjab. The officials said a total of 47 suspects were arrested.

In Thursday’s attack, the suicide bomber walked into the main hall at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, and detonated his explosives among a crowd of worshippers, initially killing 75. At least 20 women and nine children were among the dead. On Friday, authorities raised the death toll to 88 after some of the critically wounded died. The Sindh provincial health department said a total of 343 people were wounded in the attack but that most were discharged after treatment while 76 still remain in hospitals.

The Islamic State group, claiming responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated by its Aamaq news agency, said it targeted a “Shiite gathering.” The Sunni extremist group views Shiites as apostates and has targeted Pakistan’s Shiite minority in the past. It also views Sufi shrines as a form of idolatry. The Sehwan shrine, which reveres a Muslim Sufi mystic, is frequented by the faithful of many sects of Islam but the majority of the worshippers are usually Shiite Muslims.

Raja Somro, who witnessed the attack, told a local TV network that hundreds of people were performing a spiritual dance known as the “dhamal” when the bomber struck. Local TV showed graphic footage of the aftermath of the blast, with wounded worshippers crying out for help and the floors covered with shoes, blood and body parts. Women cried and beat their chests in grief.

‘Avenged immediately

 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that security forces would track down the perpetrators, according to Pakistani state TV. “Each drop of the nation’s blood shall be avenged, and avenged immediately,” Pakistan’s army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, said in a statement. The US State Department condemned the attack and offered its support to Pakistan in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The attack was the deadliest in Pakistan after the Dec 16, 2014 assault on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 154 people, mostly schoolchildren. A Taleban-linked group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for that attack. Pakistan has been at war with the Taliban and other extremist groups for more than a decade. In recent years it has launched major offensives against militant strongholds in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan, but insurgents have continued to carry out attacks elsewhere in the country.

The Islamic State group has been expanding its presence in Pakistan in recent years and has claimed a number of deadly attacks, including a suicide bombing at another Sufi shrine in November 2016 that killed more than 50 people. The government has downplayed the IS affiliate, insisting that only a small number of militants have pledged allegiance to the group. Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of failing to crack down on militants who operate along the porous border. – AP </s> SEHWAN, Pakistan — Pakistani forces killed and arrested dozens of suspects in raids overnight into Friday, a day after a suicide bombing killed 80 worshipers at a Sufi shrine.

The terrorist attack — Pakistan’s deadliest in years — raised questions about the authorities’ ability to rein in militant groups despite military offensives against them.

The raids targeted militant hideouts. Shootouts left at least 39 suspects dead across Pakistan, according to three security officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

In one raid, the troops killed 11 people at a militant hideout in the port city of Karachi. In another, paramilitary Rangers came under fire as they returned from Sehwan, a town in southern Sindh province where the bombing took place, and killed seven of the attackers.

Other raids took place in northwestern Pakistan and the eastern province of Punjab. Officials said a total of 47 suspects were arrested.

In Thursday’s attack, the suicide bomber walked into the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, and detonated his explosives, killing 80 people. At least 20 women and nine children were among the dead. Scores of people were wounded.

“We were there for the love of our saint, for the worship of Allah,” a wailing woman told the Dawn News television channel outside the shrine. “Who would hurt us when we were there for devotion?”

The white marble floor was still marked by blood on Friday, and a pile of abandoned shoes and slippers was heaped in the courtyard, many of them belonging to victims.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had targeted a “Shiite gathering.” The Sunni extremist group views Shiites as apostates and has targeted Pakistan’s Shiite minority in the past. It views Sufi shrines like the one targeted Thursday as a form of idolatry.

The blood-stained floor at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on Friday. ASIF HASSAN / AFP – Getty Images

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that security forces would track down the perpetrators of the attack, according to Pakistani state TV.

“Each drop of the nation’s blood shall be avenged, and avenged immediately,” Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, said in a statement. “No more restraint for anyone.”

A wave of bombings over five days has hit all four of Pakistan’s provinces and two major cities, killing nearly 100 people and shaking a nascent sense that the worst of the country’s militant violence may be in the past.

Most of the other attacks have been claimed by factions of the Pakistani Taliban, which is waging its own fight against the Pakistani government but whose ranks have also cooperated with and sometimes defected to ISIS.

Thursday’s attack was the deadliest in Pakistan following the Dec. 16, 2014 assault on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 154 people, mostly schoolchildren. </s> At least 50 persons have been reported injured in a blast on the premises of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Sehwan area of Sindh province.

Multiple injuries are feared as a large number of people frequent the shrine on Thursdays. </s> Over 70 martyred in suicide attack at shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar

DADU: More than 70 people including women and children were martyred and over 250 sustained critical injuries in a suicide attack at the shrine of Sufi Saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharife on Thursday, medics and police said.

Thousands of devotees from across the country arrive at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar every Thursday.

Police have confirmed it was a suicide blast.



Police officials in Sehwan said the blast took place inside the shrine with the Assistant Superintendent of Police Rashid stating it was a suicide bombing.

The News reporter Imdad Soomro said the condition of more than 50 pilgrims is critical, the number of death toll could rise as there is only one small hospital in the area.

However, emergency has been declared in the hospitals of Hyderabad, Dadu and Jamshoro.

Police and security forces have cordoned off the area.

DG ISPR in his tweet said Army and Rangers personnel have been moved with medical support.

Hyderabad CMH is ready to receive casualties, the Major Gen. Asif Ghafoor said.

#COAS directed imed assistance to Sehwan blast victims. Army /Rangers moved incl medical support. Hyderabad CMH ready to receive casualties. — Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 16, 2017





A spokesman for medical charity Edhi said the attacker appeared to have targeted the women´s wing of the shrine, and around 30 children accompanying their mothers were dead.

Islamic State (Daesh) , the Middle East-based militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group´s affiliated news agency AMAQ reported.

Senior police officer Shabbir Sethar told Reuters from a local hospital that the death toll was likely to rise. "At least 72 are dead and over 150 have been injured,"

Sethar said by telephone.

Television footage from the famous Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in the town of Sehwan Sharif showed army and paramilitary medical teams reaching the site and injured people being taken to nearby hospitals in ambulances and a military helicopter.

"We were there for the love of our saint, for the worship of Allah," a wailing woman told a television channel outside the shrine, her headscarf streaked in blood.

"Who would hurt us when we were there for devotion?"

The attack comes as the Pakistani Taliban and rival Islamist militant groups carry out their threats of a new offensive. The violence has shattered a period of improving security, underscoring how militants still undermine stability in the country.

The high death toll at the shrine makes it one of the worst attacks in Pakistan in recent years. In August last year, at least 74 people, mostly lawyers, were killed in a suicide bombing of a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta.

In November, an explosion claimed by Islamic State ripped through a Muslim shrine in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores.

SINDH SUFIS

At a crossroads of historic trade routes, religions and cultures, the southern province of Sindh where the shrine is located has always been a poor but religiously tolerant region, helping to shield it from much of the violence more common in other parts of Pakistan.

The country´s powerful military, which has cracked down on insurgent groups in recent years leading to a sharp drop in militant violence, vowed a swift, decisive response.

"Each drop of nation´s blood shall be revenged, and revenged immediately. No more restraint for anyone," Army Chief Qamar Bajwa said in a statement.

Shortly after the blast, the army announced it was closing the border with Afghanistan with immediate effect for security reasons.

Insurgents operate on either side of the neighbours´ long and porous frontier. Different militant groups, often trying to outdo each other, say they are responsible for the bombings.

In the case of the Quetta hospital blast, both a faction of the Pakistani Taliban - Jamaat-ur-Ahrar - and Islamic State claimed responsibility. Jamaat also said it was responsible for a bombing in the eastern city of Lahore earlier this week that killed 13 people.

In a separate incident late on Thursday, gunmen on a motorbike killed three policemen and one civilian in the city of Dera Ismail Khan.

"STAND UNITED

"The bomber entered the shrine as crowds massed on Thursday, a statement from the Sindh police spokesman said. Rescue officials said dozens of wounded people were being ferried in private cars to hospitals.

The nearest major hospital was nearly an hour´s drive away in Dadu district. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quickly condemned the bombing, decrying the assault on the Sufi religious minority. He vowed to fight militants, who target the government, judiciary and anyone who does not adhere to their strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.

"The past few days have been hard, and my heart is with the victims," Sharif 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.

"An ancient mystic branch of Islam, Sufism has been practised in Pakistan for centuries. Lal Shahbaz Qalander is Pakistan´s most revered Sufi shrine, dedicated to a 13th-century saint in Sehwan Sharif.

Thursdays are an especially important day for local Sufis, meaning that the shrine was packed at the time of the blast. </s> Pakistan security forces on Friday killed dozens of militants in the country, just hours after a blast at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine in Sindh killed more than 70 people. The biggest crackdown took place in the Sindh region, where Sindh Rangers said they had killed 18 militants in various operations, PTI reported.

Police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa said they had killed 11 gunmen during operatons in several parts of the province. Government officials said the crackdown by federal and provincial administrations would be intensified in the coming days. Earlier this week, a meeting chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed to begin anti-militancy operations in the country.

The Pakistani government has blocked routes to its border with Afghanistan, BBC reported. It also summoned officials from the Afghan embassy, and lodged a protest saying that its neighbour’s territory was being used as a base for militants to carry out attacks against Pakistan. Government officials also handed over the names of 76 “most wanted terrorists” and insisted that Afghanistan take immediate action against them.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa were among the first to condemn the Lal Shahbaz attack, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. The United Nations, European Union and United States have also condemned the blast. Bajwa also appealed to the nation to stay calm. </s> An explosion near a shrine in southern Pakistan on Thursday killed at least 40 and wounded more than 100 people in the latest in a string of blasts this week, according to Pakistan local media. The blast went off near the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan in Sindh province, Pakistan’s Samaa television and Geo TV reported. According to reports, Islamic State’s Khorasan Province group claimed responsibility for the attack,

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The blast took place during Dhamal – a Sufi ritual, when hundreds of devotees were present inside the premises of the vast mausoleum of the saint, police said.

Initial report suggests that it was a suicide bombing on portion reserved for women in the shrine, the Dawn reported, quoting SSP Jamshoro Tariq Wilayat.

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Rescue officials said due to the non availability of adequate ambulances at the shrine the toll could rise. Television channels reported that dead bodies and injured were lying inside the shrine.

Sharif in his statement decried the attack on the Sufi religious minority and vowed to fight Islamist militants who target the government and anyone who does not adhere to their strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.

“The past few days have been hard, and my heart is with the victims,” Sharif 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.”

The exact number of casualties was not immediately clear. Samaa initially reported more than 50 people injured and Geo TV said 20 people were injured.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered immediate rescue operation and government announced emergency in the hospitals of the nearby Jamshooro and Hyderabad districts. Meanwhile, reports say that Pakistan Air Force’s transport plane would would airlift the injured.

The attack comes a day after at least seven people were killed and several others injured, including judges, in two separate suicide attacks in Pakistan’s restive northwestern region. The Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Earlier on Monday, a suicide bomber struck police escorting a protest rally in Lahore. The blast ripped through the crowd of hundreds of pharmacists, who were protesting new amendments to a law governing drug sales. Six police officers, including a former provincial counterterrorism chief, were among the 13 killed in the attack which was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar as well. </s> Dozens of people were killed and more than 100 others wounded after a bomb tore through a crowded Sufi shrine in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday. The blast was triggered by an Islamic State suicide bomber, according to a claim by the Sunni militant group's semi-official Amaq news agency.

Reports on the exact death toll have varied — with The Associated Press reporting that at least 75 people died, while the Pakistani newspaper Dawn put the number at 70.

A number of women and children reportedly were among the dead.

The Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine, which has stood in the town of Sehwan for some 800 years, is a center of Sufi life and worship in the region. Worshippers had converged on the shrine for dhamaal, a ritual that packed the area with people — thousands of people, by CNN's account.

Immediately following the explosion, Pakistan's chief of army staff, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, issued a blistering statement through the military's spokesman.

"Each drop of nation's blood shall be revenged, and revenged immediately," Bajwa said. "No more restraint for anyone."

In a statement, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also struck a defiant tone: "Such cowardly acts cannot deter the resolve of the nation to stand against terrorism and our government is committed to root out this menace."

As The Washington Post notes, the shrine blast is the latest incident in what has been a particularly deadly week for Pakistan, which has been buffeted by attacks not only from ISIS, but also Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Taliban splinter group which has promised a campaign of violence against government buildings.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for a bombing that tore through a rally in the city of Lahore on Monday, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens more. In the wake of that attack, Bajwa pledged that "terrorists of all hue and colour, their masters, financiers, planners and abettors including from outside will be hunted across the country."

The Post reports that Pakistan "formally complained" to its neighbor Afghanistan on Wednesday, "charging that the militants were operating from sanctuaries across the border."

In response to Thursday's attack, the military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, blamed "hostile powers" and "sanctuaries in Afghanistan." He tweeted that Pakistan would be immediately closing its border with Afghanistan "till further orders due to security reasons."

The Islamic State has waged a campaign of violence against Shiite Muslims as well as Sufis, who take a mystical approach to Islam and prize a direct relationship with the divine.

The AP reports that Thursday's shrine attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since 2014, when an assault on a school killed 154 people. </s> Three suicide bombers who targeted a court in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were killed on Tuesday, the ghastly attack also leaving five others dead, authorities said.

At least three attackers attempted to enter the Sessions Court at Charsadda district through the main gate when the complex was crowded, media reports said. The terrorists suddenly opened fire and threw grenades, prompting police and security forces to fire back, the Dawn said after speaking to officers and witnesses.

One of the bombers was killed in the firing at the gate and a second died as he entered the court. The third bomber was killed when he detonated his explosives, police told the Dawn. Police officer Fayaz Khan was quoted as saying that five civilians were also killed in the terror attack, for which the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility.

Some reports said a lawyer was among the dead and that up to 17 persons were injured. Urdu TV channel Abb Takk said the injured included five policemen, Xinhua news agency reported. Up to 10 ambulances were rushed to Charsadda from Peshawar, where the Lady Reading Hospital was put on high alert.

The attack come even though security had been heightened across the province and the rest of Pakistan after a wave of terror attacks that left over 100 people dead in the past 10 days. Charsadda is located nearly 40 minutes away Peshawar.

Earlier, gunfire was heard after one of the blasts near the gate of the court located at Tangi Bazaar. The Dawn quoted witnesses as saying that the remains of the bombers were lying along with their explosives and ammunition.

On February 16, a suicide attack on the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sindh killed 88 persons and injured more than 200. The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, with ties to the Islamic State, had also claimed responsibility for the carnage.
In response to yesterday's bombing at the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar that killed 88 people, the Pakistan Army claims to have killed more than 100 terrorists and arrested many others.