Blast in Pakistan Sufi shrine: six killed.

Six killed in blast at Pakistan Sufi shrine

DPA

ISLAMABAD, October 25, 2010

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At least six people were killed and more than a dozen also injured in a blast at the mausoleum of 12th century saint Hazrat Baba Farid in Pakppatan district soon after the early morning prayers. 

A bomb exploded outside a Sufi shrine in Pakistan’s central province of Punjab Monday, killing at least six people, officials said.

More than a dozen people were also injured in the blast which took place at the mausoleum of 12th century saint Hazrat Baba Farid in Pakppatan district soon after the early morning prayers.

An official at the city’s main hospital said that six people, including two women were killed in the attack. Fifteen people, including seven women, were injured. Amjad Javed Salimi, the district police chief, said that the bomb was planted in a milk container tied to a motorbike.

“Two attackers parked the motorbike outside the rear gate of the shrine and fled. Five minuets later the bomb exploded. It could have been a remote—controlled bombing,” Mr. Salimi said.

Several shops were also destroyed in the attack.

Militants linked with Taliban and al—Qaeda have intensified strikes on the followers of the moderate Sufi version of Islam in recent months, On July 1, two suicide bombers detonated explosives as thousands of worshippers were gathered for prayers at the mausoleum of 11{+t}{+h}-century saint Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery, commonly known as Data Ganj Baksh, in Punjab’s provincial capital Lahore. Forty people were killed.

Eight people died and dozens were wounded early this month when twin suicide bombings targeted the mausoleum of 8th—century saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi in the southern port city of Karachi.

(the hindu)

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