30 dead in suicide attack on Pak shrine

At least 30 people have been killed and 100 injured when a suicide bomber attacked the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Shewan yesterday evening.

Taluka Hospital Medical Superintendent Moinuddin Siddiqui confirmed that at least 30 bodies have been brought to the hospital while more than 100 injured were shifted to the hospital.

ASP Sehwan said a suicide bomber entered the shrine through the Golden gate. The attacker blew himself up after throwing a grenade, which failed to explode.

The explosion took place at the spot where the dhamaal (Sufi ritual) was being performed, within the premises of the shrine, reported Dawn.

An emergency has been declared in the hospitals of the area, with the injured being shifted to Liaquat Medical Complex Jamshoro and the sub-district hospital.

Meanwhile, Pakistani counter-terrorism police raided a militant hideout and killed six suspected members of a Taliban faction that has launched a new campaign of violence against the government, police said yesterday.

The Counter Terrorism Department in Punjab province said its officers surrounded a hideout of the Pakistani Taliban's Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction in the city of Multan late on Wednesday and ordered the suspects inside to surrender, reported AFP.

"But the terrorists started firing at the raiding party and threw explosives," a spokesman for the department, who the unit does not identify for security reasons, said in a statement.