Pakistan ‘kills 100 militants’ after blast in Sufi shrine
SEHWAN, Pakistan: Pakistani forces said Friday they had killed more than 100 ‘terrorists’ after 88 people died in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group on a Sufi shrine which stoked fears of a fresh surge in militancy.
The devastating blast came after a series of bloody extremist assaults this week, including a powerful Taliban suicide bomb in the eastern city of Lahore which killed 13 people and wounded dozens.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief of staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa Friday visited the town of Sehwan in Sindh province where the latest attack took place.
Sharif vowed to eliminate militants “with the full force of the state”.
Pakistan’s military later said operations were in progress across the country.
“Over 100 terrorists have been killed since last night”, it said, adding others had been detained.
The emergence of Islamic State group (IS) and a Taliban resurgence would be a major blow to Pakistan, and the attacks have dented growing optimism over security after a decade-long war on militancy.
Police Friday cordoned off the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a 13th century Muslim saint, in Sehwan, some 200 kilometres northeast of financial hub Karachi.
The centuries-old shrine’s white floor was smeared with blood, scattered with shoes, shawls, and baby bottles.
At 3.30am the shrine’s caretaker stood among the carnage and defiantly rang its bell, a daily ritual that he vowed to continue, telling AFP he will “not bow down to terrorists”.
Health officials said the number of people killed in the shrine blast had jumped to 88, including at least 20 children, making it the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a 2014 assault on a Peshawar school.
Islamabad has denied the presence of IS, despite several high-profile attacks and the group’s apparent affiliation with homegrown militants, such as the banned Sunni sectarian organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).
“I think they (IS) are capable of doing this” with help from homegrown groups, security expert Amir Rana said of the shrine bombing, as analyst Imtiaz Gul warned the group would claim more such attacks.
Gul also warned there are ‘visible signs’ that factions of the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or Pakistani Taliban), which is distinct from the Afghan Taliban, are regrouping after a military crackdown.