Blast rips through shrine in Pakistan, 30 dead

KARACHI: At least 30 people were killed and over 100 others injured when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up inside the crowded shrine of revered Sufi Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town in Pakistan's Sindh province, the fifth deadly terror attack in the country within a week. 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. Citing Taluka Hospital Medical Superintendent Moinuddin Siddiqui, Dawn reported that at least 30 bodies and more than 100 injured were brought to the hospital. An emergency has been declared in the hospitals of the area. The area is located far from any hospital, with the nearest medical complex located 40 to 50 kilometres from the site of the blast. Devotees gather at the shrine of the revered Sufi saint every Thursday to participate in a dhamaal and prayers. Earlier, Sindh Health Minister Sikandar Mandhro said that "40-50 people" have been injured in the blast. 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. "It seems to be a suicide bombing according to initial information provided by Sehwan police to me and I am on way to Shewan," Wilayat said. Rescue officials said due to the non availability of adequate ambulances at the shrine the toll could rise. "Ambulances have been rushed from Hyderabad and other close by places like Nawabshah, Moro, Dadu," Wilayat said. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered immediate rescue operation and government announced emergency in the hospitals of the nearby Jamshooro and Hyderabad districts. Television channels reported that dead bodies and injured were lying inside the shrine. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was a Sufi philosopher-poet of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. The court said the prosecution had "miserably failed" to prove that Mohd Rafiq Shah was involved in the placing of the bomb in a DTC bus on the fateful evening and neither could it prove that Mohd Hussain Fazili was involved in any manner with the conspiracy behind blasts. Farooq Ahmed Batloo and Ghulam Ahmed Khan had earlier pleaded guilty and were let off by the court for the period already undergone by them. Terror funding was the allegation against both these accused. Three separate cases were registered by police after the blasts. The court had clubbed all the three cases for the purpose of recording of evidence. As per the prosecution, Dar, along with Abu Ozefa, Abu Al Kama, Rashid, Sazid Ali and Zahid, had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to wage a war against the country and planned serial blasts. All these five co-accused are still at large and are said to be in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Prosecution said that Dar had allegedly hatched a conspiracy with the LeT militants to plan and carry out the bomb blasts in the national capital.