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 Islamic State suicide bomber struck inside a famed shrine in southern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 75 people in the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years.

The bomber entered the main hall of the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan and detonated his payload amid dozens of worshippers, according to three security officials, who said at least 20 women and nine children were among the dead.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. Fazal Palejo, a senior health official in Sindh province, confirmed the toll.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a statement circulated by its Aamaq news agency, 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.

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.

“I saw bodies everywhere. I saw bodies of women and children,” he said.

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.

Ghazanfar Shah, the custodian of the site, said security was lax at the shrine, which is entered through two gold-plated doors.

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.”

Thursday’s attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since Dec. 16, 2014, when militants assaulted an army-run school in Peshawar, killing 154 people, mostly schoolchildren.

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 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.

The army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, said acts of terrorism were being carried out “from hostile powers and from sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” without elaborating. Pakistan closed the main Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan shortly after the attack.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan and Muhammad Farooq in Jam Shoro, Pakistan contributed to this report

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Suicide Bomber Kills More Than 70 at Muslim Shrine

An ISIS-claimed suicide attack has killed scores of people and wounded many more in Sehwan, Pakistan.</s>A powerful claimed by the Islamic State ripped through a Sufi shrine in Sehwan town of Pakistan's Sindh province on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, including women and children, and injuring scores

Assistant Superintendent of Police in Sehwan said a suicide bomber entered the Lal Shehbaz Qalandar shrine through its Golden gate. The attacker blew himself up after throwing a grenade, which failed to explode, he said.

The explosion took place at the spot where the "Dhamaal" Sufi ritual was being performed within the premises of the shrine.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's affiliated news agency AMAQ reported.

There were conflicting reports about casualties in the Taluka Hospital Medical Superintendent Moinuddin Siddiqui said at least 50 bodies and scores of injured were brought to the hospital.

A stampede followed the as a large number of devotee, including women and children, were present in the shrine.

Contingents of police reached the shrine that is situated slightly off the Super Highway in Dadu district of Sindh. Hundreds of people gather at the Sufi saint's shrine every Thursday for religious rituals.

Police chief Jamshoro Tariq Wilayat told Dawn that initial reports suggested it was a suicide bombing in the area reserved for women in the shrine.

"It seems to be a suicide bombing according to initial information provided by Sehwan police to me and I am on way to Sehwan," Wilayat said.

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

Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has directed that immediate assistance be provided to civil authorities. Army contingents were dispatched along with medical personnel. Combined Military Hospital Hyderabad has also been alerted to receive casualties.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said he had directed rescue teams to reach the spot of the attack.

The last attack on a Sufi shrine took place on November 12, 2016, when a suicide bomber struck the shrine of Shah Norani in Khuzdar district of Balochistan, killing at least 52 people and leaving 102 injured.

The explosion had taken place where the Dhamaal was being performed. At least 500 people were gathered at the spot to observe the ritual.</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>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>250 injured as suicide bomber hits devotees performing Dhamal inside shrine premises; a large number of women, children among the casualties; Daesh claims responsibility; political leadership condemns attack

SEHWAN/KARACHI: At least 76 people were killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber attacked the crowded Sufi shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif, injuring up to 250 others, hospital and senior police officials said.

The powerful blast took place inside the premises of the shrine as a dhamaal was taking place, with a large number of women and children said to be among the casualties.

“At least 76 were martyred,” said senior police officer Shabbir Sethar, adding that the death toll was likely to rise. Faisal Edhi, the head of Edhi Foundation, confirmed the death toll. “Forty-three men, nine women and 20 children are among the dead,” he said. Medical superintendent of Sehwan Hospital also confirmed the death toll.

Emergency was declared in the hospitals of Hyderabad, Dadu and Jamshoro. Police and security forces have cordoned off the area after the incident.Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Sindh Police AD Khowaja earlier said 70 people were martyred. Deputy Inspector-General (DIG), Hyderabad, Khadim Hussain Rind, said as many as 250 people were injured in the explosion, the latest in a series of terrorist attacks in the country.

Officials confirmed the suicide bombing took place inside the complex of the shrine, with eyewitnesses saying the explosion caused people to panic and triggered a stampede inside the crowded shrine.A large number of people from different parts of the province had gathered at the shrine when the blast took place.

Devotees throng the shrine of the revered Sufi saint every Thursday to participate in a dhamaal and prayers. According to reports, the explosion occurred after devotees had gathered inside the premises of the shrine. A high number of casualties were feared because of the crowd gathered at the shrine.

This is not the first time a Sufi shrine has been hit by terrorists. In November last year, a suicide blast at the Shah Noorani shrine killed 52 people and injured more than 100Daesh, the Middle East-based militant group which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s affiliated news agency AMAQ reported.

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.

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is Pakistan’s most revered Sufi shrine, dedicated to a 13th-century saint whose spirit is invoked by devotees in ecstatic daily dancing and singing rituals in Sehwan Sharif.

Thursdays are an especially important day for the local Sufis, meaning that the shrine was packed at the time of the blast.The political leadership condemned the suicide blast in Sehwan Sharif and loss of innocent lives in the attack.

PPP President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack on the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and said the patrons, facilitators and planners of the attack will be apprehended at all costs. He directed the Sindh government to hold an inquiry into the incident and why the security situation was not addressed. He instructed the elected representatives, party office-bearers and workers of PPP to reach hospitals and donate blood for the injured.

Zardari said the Bhutto family and the PPP are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. He prayed for the martyrs and early recovery of the injured.The Ameer of JI expressed sympathies with the bereaved families who lost their relatives in the tragic occurrence. Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana condemned the attack and said the terrorists’ prime agenda was to weaken Pakistan but they wouldn’t succeed in their nefarious designs. He said the entire nation was united against terrorism.

Ameer International Khatam-e-Nabuwat Movement Dr Saeed Inayat Ullah, MPA Maulana Ilyas Chinioti and others condemned the incident while describing it a conspiracy to trigger sectarian violence in Pakistan. In a joint statement, they called for unity to foil evil designs of anti-Pakistan forces.

Secretary Information PTI Syed Sumsam Bokhari, President Central Punjab Region Abdul Aleem Khan and other leaders of PTI voiced concern over the terror wave in Pakistan. The PTI leadership expressed profound grief over the deaths of army Jawans as a result of a mine blast in Balochistan.

Former governor Ch Sarwar said the National Action Plan should be implemented today instead of tomorrow for the eradication of terrorism. He said it is the responsibility of the rulers to arrest the facilitators of terrorism along with the terrorists. Sarwar said terrorist strikes have aggrieved the whole nation, but they can’t dismantle the will of the whole nation and the entire nation is fighting against the terrorism and the time is not distant when terrorism will be eradicated from the country.

The PPP Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Governor Zubair Umar, Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Quaid-e-Millet-Jafariya Agha Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi also condemned the terrorist attack at the premises of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine.

In their separate statements, they expressed deep sorrow and grief at the loss of lives and injuries in the blast. They prayed that Almighty Allah rest the departed souls in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved families to bear the loss with equanimity.

76 massacred at Qalandar’s shrine was posted in Top Story of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on February 17, 2017 and was last updated on February 17, 2017. This news story is related to Print/186936-76-massacred-at-Qalandars-shrine/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "76 massacred at Qalandar’s shrine" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/186936-76-massacred-at-Qalandars-shrine.</s>KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from an Islamic State suicide bombing at a famous shrine in Pakistan has climbed to 75, with another 200 people wounded.

Fazal Palejo, a senior health official in Sindh province, provided the death toll. Three security officials confirmed the toll, saying the dead included 20 women and nine children.

The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

They say the suicide bomber walked through a gold plated door and entered the main hall of the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar before setting off his payload amid a gathering of worshippers.</s>There was no need to guess the timing of the attack on the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in the town of Sehwan Sharif in Pakistan’s Sindh province. Thursdays are the most important in the week for Sufis and the shrine is particularly crowded with devotees. The Thursday evening attack by an Islamic State bomber claimed more than 72 lives, including that of women and children, and injured more than 150, which makes it one of the deadliest on Pakistani soil in recent years.

The shrine, among the most important for the Sufi sect, celebrate the Saint Syed Muhammad Usman Marwandi. The subcontinent will know him more as the mystic about whom scores of Sufi songs are written, among them the immensely popular “Dama dam Mast Qalandar”.

Sufi shrines are visited both by minority Shiite and Sunni Muslims, but radical militant groups like the Islamic State consider the practice to be against Islam. They regard anyone who does not follow their strict interpretation of Sunni Islam – including members of other schools of Islam – as non-Muslims deserving death. Before Thursday’s attack, ISIS targeted a remote Sufi shrine in mountainous southwestern Pakistan on November 12, 2016 claiming the lives of at least 52 people.

Sufi traditions and shrines have also been attacked in the recent years by Taliban and other extremist Sunni groups. One of the most popular qawwali (Sufi devotional music) singers, Amjad Sabri, was gunned down while driving in his car in Karachi on June 22, 2016 by two attackers on a motorcycle. The attack was claimed by TTP Hakimullah Mehsud group – also known as Pakistani Taliban – who proclaimed that it was in retaliation for a song he sang they deemed “blasphemy”.

Sufism, which is popular in South Asia including Pakistan, is a relatively tolerant school of Islam. In the Sufi tradition, adherents often worship at the shrine of esteemed saints where musicians lead the crowd of devotees in ecstatic song and dance of devotion, also known as dhikr, in which the worshipper is absorbed in the rhythmic repetition of the name of God or his attributes. Qawwali songs praise the God, or the Prophet or Ali (the first imam of Shia Islam), or one of the Sufi saints. Others lend voice to the poet’s longing for God – often expressed in what seems, on the surface, to be a secular love song.

A woman clad in burqa walks in the hallway of the tomb of Sufi saint Syed Usman Marwandi, also known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, in Sehwan Sharif, in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, September 5, 2013. [Akhtar Soomro/ REUTERS]This syncretic form of devotion frequently sparks the ire of fundamentalist Muslims of the Wahhabist/Salafist sect who insist on a stricter, more puritanical interpretation of the Qur’an and decry the Sufis’ musical tradition of devotion and their practice of visiting the graves of Saints. Some devotional songs even explicitly reference religious pluralism and tolerance, which is sharply at odds with with the ideology of the radical militant groups like the TPP and the IS loyalists, who condemn Sufis, Shiites and other religious minorities as heretics.

With the rising terror violence in Pakistani cities unchecked in the recent few months, attacks targeting followers of non-Islamic State versions of Islam are likely to happen again.
At least 70 people are killed and more than 150 injured in suicide bombing at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine in Sehwan, Sindh, Pakistan; 50 of the injured are in critical condition, medical emergency has been declared in the hospitals of Hyderabad, Dadu and Jamshoro.