KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) – An Islamic State suicide bomber targeted worshippers at a famous shrine in southern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 39 people and wounding over 100 others, officials said, in one of the deadliest attacks the country has seen in recent months.
According to three security officials, the suicide bomber entered the main hall of the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan in the southern Sindh province and detonated his explosives amid a gathering that included men, women and children. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on their Aamaq news agency, saying a suicide bomber had targeted a “Shiite gathering” at the shrine.
Rizwan Edhi, the spokesman for Pakistan’s largest private ambulance service, Edhi, said they had transported more than 45 bodies to hospitals thus far and that the death toll would likely rise as some of the wounded were listed as being in critical condition.
Munawar Maiser, a deputy commissioner in the Sindh province said at least 50 people were killed and 150 wounded in the attack. A health official in Sindh, Fazal Pejo, said the death toll had risen to over 70 people.