Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Survivors of the massacre are being treated in hospital

Twenty people have been murdered and several others wounded at a Sufi shrine near the city of Sargodha, in Pakistan's Punjab province, police say.

Deputy police commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatta said the main suspect was the shrine's custodian, Abdul Waheed.

One survivor told police Mr Waheed had called followers into his chamber one by one and drugged them.

He and his companions then killed them with a dagger and a stick.

"As they kept arriving, they were torturing and murdering them," Mr Chattha told Pakistan's Geo TV.

The alarm was raised by an injured woman who was among several victims who managed to escape.

Local police then rushed to the shrine and arrested Mr Waheed, along with several others believed to be his accomplices.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Police believe the victims were deliberately summoned to the shrine before being killed

Image copyright EPA Image caption Relatives of the victims looked on as the bodies were recovered

One senior police officer said the suspect appeared to be mentally unstable, and that the killings could be related to rivalry for control of the shrine.

"The 50-year-old shrine custodian Abdul Waheed has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him," Zulfiqar Hameed told AFP news agency.

The BBC's Secunder Kermani in Islamabad says the custodian had set himself up as a Sufi spiritual leader.

"Residents have been reported as saying he would regularly beat his disciples. He would make them strip off... and would burn their clothes," he said.

Pervaiz Haider, a hospital doctor, said most of the victims were hit on the back of the neck.

"There are bruises and wounds inflicted by a club and dagger on the bodies of victims," he told Reuters news agency.

According to a survivor, the alarm was raised by children who had witnessed the violence through a door. Adult devotees then attacked the suspects.

Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam which spread throughout the Indian subcontinent in the 13th Century.

Sufis believe in saints who can intercede for them directly with God. Several million Muslims in Pakistan are believed to follow Sufism's tenets.</s>At least 20 people have been murdered and others wounded at a Sufi shrine near the city of Sargodha, in Pakistan's Punjab province, police say.

Deputy police commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatta said the main suspect was the shrine's custodian, Abdul Waheed.

The shrine was run by a Sufi saint, Muhammad Ali Gujjar, who was not there on the day of the murders.

One survivor told police Mr Waheed had called followers into his chamber one by one, and gave them poisoned food.

He and his companions then killed them with a dagger and a stick.

The alarm was raised by an injured woman at a nearby hospital who had managed to escape.

Local police then rushed to the shrine and arrested Mr Waheed, along with several others believed to be his accomplices.

The motive is unclear, but one senior local police officer said the suspect appeared to be mentally unstable, or that the killings could be related to rivalry for control of the shrine.

"The 50-year-old shrine custodian Abdul Waheed has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him," Zulfiqar Hameed told AFP.

Pakistan's Geo TV said the victims were tortured before they were killed, and that their bodies were found unclothed.

Three survivors managed to flee the scene of the crime. According to one, they attacked the suspects after some children witnessed the incident through a door.

Reports suggest the victims may have been pilgrims. Police said it was customary for food to be distributed at the shrine during the first week of Rajab, a scared month of the Islamic calendar which began at the end of March.</s>At least 20 people were murdered and four others injured at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan's Punjab province, near Sargodha city, in the early hours of Sunday (2 April), according to police.

The police said they had arrested three suspects, including the custodian of the Ali Mohammad Gujjar shrine, Abdul Waheed.

Deputy Commissioner of Sargodha city, Liaquat Ali Chatta, said Waheed had made phone calls to the victims and asked them to come to the shrine.

 Chatta told Geo News that the custodian and his accomplices first drugged the devotees and then tortured them with machetes and batons, leading to their death.

According to GeoTV, two women and many men managed to escape from the shrine in a wounded condition. One of the survivors told about the attack to locals who in turn alerted the police. The report also said that the bodies were found unclothed.

One survivor said Waheed had called them into his chamber and given them poisoned food. The victims were then killed with a stick and dagger, the BBC reported.

Local police rushed to the shrine and arrested Waheed after a wounded woman at a nearby hospital raised alarm. When police reached the location, he was found sitting outside the shrine.

"There were no survivors. He drugged everyone who was at the shrine," local police officer Shaukat Manzoor told Al Jazeera.

Regional police officer Zulfiqar Hameed was quoted by the AFP as saying: "The 50-year-old shrine custodian Abdul Waheed has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him."

Hameed added that the suspect appeared to be paranoid and psychotic or that it could be linked to some rivalry over the shrine's control.

Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif ordered the police to submit a report on the incident in the next 24 hours.</s>Twenty people were tortured and murdered with clubs and knives at a Pakistan Sufi shrine, police said on Sunday, with the shrine's custodian and five associates placed under arrest.

Another three people, including two women, were critically injured during the attack at a shrine in Sargodha, in the Punjab.

The custodian and spiritual leader of the shrine, Abdul Waheed, called on the worshippers to visit the shrine and then attacked them with his accomplices, said Liaqat Ali Chattha, deputy commissioner for the area.

"As they kept arriving, they were torturing and murdering them," Mr Chattha said.</s>LAHORE, Pakistan — Twenty people were tortured and then murdered with clubs and knives at a Pakistani Sufi shrine, the police said Sunday, in an attack purportedly carried out by the shrine’s custodian and several accomplices.

Four others were wounded during the attack on Sunday morning at the shrine on the edge of Sargodha, a remote town in the Punjab region.

The custodian of the shrine, Abdul Waheed, called on the worshippers to visit the shrine and then attacked them with his accomplices, said Liaqat Ali Chattha, deputy commissioner for the area.

“As they kept arriving, they were torturing and murdering them,” Chattha told Geo TV.

Pervaiz Haider, a doctor in a Sargodha hospital, said most of the dead were hit on the back of the neck.

“There are bruises and wounds inflicted by a club and dagger on the bodies of victims,” he told Reuters.

Police arrested Waheed. During his interrogation, the custodian told police he believed his victims were out to kill him, said Zulfiqar Hameed, regional police officer for Sargodha.

“Waheed told police that he killed the people because they had tried to kill him by poisoning him in the past, and again they were there to kill him,” Hameed told Reuters.

Reuters could not immediately find contact details for Waheed or any lawyer representing him.

With its ancient hypnotic rituals, Sufism is a mystical form of Islam that has been practiced in Pakistan for centuries.

But in recent months, Sufi shrines have been targeted by extremist Sunni militants who consider them heretics, including a suicide bombing by Islamic State that killed more than 80 worshippers at a shrine in Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in southern Sindh province.

Last November, an explosion ripped through another Sufi shrine, the Shah Noorani in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 52 people. Islamic State also claimed responsibility for that attack.</s>A Muslim faith healer has been arrested for the brutal drugging and stabbing of 20 of his disciples at a Sufi shrine in Punjab, Pakistan.

The victims of the massacre were reportedly drugged with narcotic-laced food, stripped naked and then killed with a dagger and stick. Along with the 20 dead, four more people were wounded in the incident, which occurred around midnight between Saturday and Sunday. The four are in critical condition.

The alleged perpetrator of the crime is the 50-year-old shrine custodian and faith healer Abdul Waheed, who confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him, according to regional police chief Zulfiqar Hameed.

“The suspect appears to be paranoid and psychotic, or it could be related to rivalry for the control of shrine,” Hameed said.

Pervaiz Haider, a doctor in the hospital treating the survivors of the incident, said most of the dead were hit on the back of the neck. “There are bruises and wounds inflicted by a club and dagger on the bodies of victims,” he said.

Waheed was known for erratic behavior but was popular as a faith healer.

“Local people say Abdul used to beat the visitors who came to him for treatment of various physical or spiritual ailments,” local rescue service official Mazhar Shah said. “Sometimes he would remove the clothes of his visitors and burn them.”

According to Deputy Commissioner Liaqut Ali Chatha, people would come to the shrine for cleansing their sins and allow the caretakers to beat them with clubs. “But in this case the visitors were first drugged and then stabbed with daggers and hit with clubs, apparently during the cleansing process,” Chatha said.

The shrine was built two and a half years ago and named after the late boxer Mohammed Ali, a convert to Islam. It has become a popular place of pilgrimage and healing for Sufi Muslims.

Two other suspects were reportedly arrested together with Waheed.

Many hardline Muslims regard Sufis as heretics because of the mystical element of their tradition.

Earlier this year, militants of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) carried out a massive suicide bombing on a prominent Sufi Muslim shrine in Pakistan, killing up to 88 people and wounding more than 300 others.

Last November, another Islamic State attack at a Sufi shrine in south-west Pakistan left a least 52 people dead and more than 100 others injured. A bomb blast hit worshipers participating in a ceremony at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Noorani, some 750 kilometers (460 miles) south of Quetta, the provincial capital of restive southern Balochistan province.</s>LAHORE, Pakistan — Twenty people were tortured and then murdered with clubs and knives at a Pakistani Sufi shrine, police said Sunday, in what officials are calling a cult ritual.

Six women are among the dead and four other people were wounded during the attack on Sunday morning at the shrine on the edge of Sargodha, a remote town in the Punjab region, police said.

The killings were purportedly carried out by the shrine's custodian and several accomplices, senior police official Jamshed Ahmad told NBC News.

With its ancient hypnotic rituals, Sufism is a mystical form of Islam that has been practiced in Pakistan for centuries.

Ahmad said police raided the shrine and captured six people including the custodian, who has been identified as Abdul Waheed, 50.

He said police came to know about what he described as a "brutal killing" when one of the injured managed to reach a nearby hospital.

"The custodian called his faithful one by one to a room where he killed them using daggers and sticks," Ahmad said.

19 people died inside the shrine and one woman died later at hospital, Ahmad added.

Police said they were currently investigating the incident and trying to ascertain the perpetrators' motives.

Liaquat Ali Chatta, government administrator of the area, told the Associated Press the custodian was allegedly in the practice of "beating and torturing" devotees to "cleanse" them and said Waheed had confessed to the murders.

Rana Sanaullah, the law minister for the Punjab provincial government, said an initial investigation showed that Waheed had a collection of followers who would regularly visit the shrine and face torture in the name of religious cleansing.

The shrine was built about two years ago on the grave of local religious leader Ali Mohamamd Gujjar. Shamsher Joya, a local police officer, said Waheed would come to the shrine twice a week from Lahore, and his followers would submit to "beating and torturing with a red hot iron rod."

Pervaiz Haider, a doctor in a Sargodha hospital, said most of the dead were hit on the back of the neck."There are bruises and wounds inflicted by a club and dagger on the bodies of victims," he told Reuters.

Zulfiqar Hameed, Regional Police Officer for Sargodha, said that during his interrogation, Waheed had told police he believed his victims were out to kill him.

"Waheed told police that he killed the people because they had tried to kill him by poisoning him in the past, and again they were there to kill him," Hameed told Reuters.

Reuters could not immediately find contact details for Waheed or any lawyer representing him.

In recent months, Sufi shrines have been targeted by extremist Sunni militants who consider them heretics, including a suicide bombing by Islamic State that killed more than 80 worshipers at a shrine in Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in southern Sindh province.

Last November, an explosion ripped through another Sufi shrine, the Shah Noorani in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 52 people. Islamic State also claimed responsibility for that attack.</s>LAHORE, Pakistan: Twenty people were tortured and then murdered with clubs and knives at a Pakistani Sufi shrine, the police said on Sunday, in an attack purportedly carried out by the shrine's custodian and several accomplices.

Four others were wounded during the attack on Sunday morning at the shrine on the edge of Sargodha, a remote town in the Punjab region.

The custodian of the shrine, Abdul Waheed, called on the disciples to visit the shrine and then attacked them with his accomplices, said Liaqat Ali Chattha, deputy commissioner for the area.

"As they kept arriving, they were torturing and murdering them," Chattha told Geo TV.</s>Twenty people were tortured and then murdered with clubs and knives at a Pakistani Sufi shrine, the police said on Sunday, in an attack purportedly carried out by the shrine's custodian and several accomplices. Four others were wounded during the attack on Sunday morning at the shrine on the edge of Sargodha, a remote town in the Punjab region.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters.</s>Custodian of Sufi shrine in Pakistan is arrested in killings of at least 20 visitors

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN: A custodian of a Sufi shrine in Pakistan’s Punjab province killed at least 20 people Saturday night, a district administration official said.

The attack occurred in Sargodha, and four women were among the dead. The custodian, Abdul Waheed, and four others were arrested.

Speaking with reporters, Deputy Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatta said, “Abdul Waheed used club and knife to kill these people visiting the shrine. He has confessed that he killed the victims.”

Chatta said an injured woman who fled the scene informed hospital staff of the attack, prompting police action.

Waheed is said to be mentally unstable, Chatta said. The custodian is also said to have tortured devotees in an apparent effort to heal them.

Killings have been reported during exorcism rituals at some shrines in the past, but such a mass killing would be unusual.

Millions of Pakistanis follow Sufism, a mystic branch of Islam overtaken recently by more conservative and hard-line versions of the faith.

Militant groups, including the Islamic State, have recently carried out attacks on Sufi shrines, including a suicide blast in February in Sehwan, in Sindh province. The explosion, which targeted the famous Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine, killed more than 70 people.

Pakistani news channels showed bewildered villagers standing in front of the shrine. News reports said police have started an investigation at the instruction of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

According to televised reports, Waheed drugged devotees and then called them one by one to his room, where they were killed with a club and knife.

An elderly woman, who was identified only as Kishwar and lay on a hospital bed with a deep cut on the left side of her face, told the news channel Dunya, “I don’t know what happened to the custodian of the shrine. He started beating and killing the devotees. He and some others … beat us badly with clubs.”
An attack occurs at a Sufi shrine near Sargodha, Pakistan, killing more than 20 people. Authorities arrest a main suspect and several others.