“Sufis always preach peace and brotherhood among people,” he said in a statement, adding added that “terrorists once again proved that they have no respect for Islamic values.”

Militant holdouts

 Meanwhile, raids overnight across Pakistan targeted militant hideouts and led to shootouts with insurgents that left at least 39 suspects dead, according to three Pakistani security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations. Eighteen were killed in the southern port city of Karachi, which lies 100 miles from the shrine. A day earlier, at least 88 people were killed and hundreds were injured when a suicide attacker targeted Sufis as they performed a devotional ritual at the famous Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, a town in the southern Sindh province. In Thursday’s attack, the suicide bomber walked into the main hall at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, and detonated his explosives among a crowd of worshippers, initially killing 75. The Islamic State group, claiming responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated by its Aamaq news agency, said it targeted a “Shiite gathering.” The Sunni extremist group views Shiites as apostates and has targeted Pakistan’s Shiite minority in the past. ASIF HASSAN / AFP – Getty Images

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that security forces would track down the perpetrators of the attack, according to Pakistani state TV. “No more restraint for anyone.”

A wave of bombings over five days has hit all four of Pakistan’s provinces and two major cities, killing nearly 100 people and shaking a nascent sense that the worst of the country’s militant violence may be in the past. Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of failing to crack down on militants who operate along the porous border.
In response to yesterday's bombing at the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar that killed 88 people, the Pakistan Army claims to have killed more than 100 terrorists and arrested many others.