Suicide blasts at Sufi shrine in Pak; 41 dead

Two Taliban suicide bombers caused carnage on Sunday at a Sufi shrine in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 41 people and wounding scores in the latest bloody attack on minority religious groups. Asim Tanveer reports.

Two Taliban suicide bombers caused carnage on Sunday at a Sufi shrine in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 41 people and wounding scores in the latest bloody attack on minority religious groups.

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“These were suicide bombings and we arrested an attacker who could not completely detonate the explosives on his body. He was wounded,” Zahid Ali, a police officer in Dera Ghazi Khan city where the blasts took place, said over phone.

Police said some 65 people were wounded. They said the attackers struck during an annual ceremony for the Sufi saint to whom the shrine is dedicated. “I was just a few yards away from the place where the blast happened,” said witness Faisal Iqbal.

Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike. “Our men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation for government operations against our people in the northwest,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said from an undisclosed location.