Bomb Blast At Shrine Packed With Families, Women, Children

The death toll from a bomb blast at a Sufi shrine in southwest Pakistan Saturday has risen to 50 people with more than 100 wounded, officials said. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at the shrine of Sufi saint Shah Bilal Noorani in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, the AP reports. Abdur Rasool, an official at the province's home ministry, said rescuers were transporting the wounded to hospitals and the dead to local morgues, but were struggling in the difficult mountainous terrain. The blast targeted worshippers as they were in the throes of their devotional "dhamal" dance, and the courtyard at the time was packed with families, women, and children.

The Islamic State group's statement on the IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency said the suicide attack had targeted "Shiites." The shrine is frequented by both Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority and Shiite minority. IS considers all Shiite Muslims heretics. Baluchistan home minister Sarfaraz Bugti, citing a lack of cellular services in the affected area, said the situation will be much clearer in the morning. He said over 500 people were present in the courtyard of the shrine when the blast happened. One female witness, who was not identified by name, told the GEO television channel that a "big bang" took place in the midst of the dhamal dance in the shrine's courtyard. "I don't know how I escaped unhurt," she said. "It was like a hell all around." (More Pakistan stories.)