Pakistan shrine bombing kills 72

  • 17/02/2017
Pakistan crime suicide bomber bombing shrine
(File)

More than 70 people are dead after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan, a police official says.

Senior police officer Shabbir Sethar told Reuters from a local hospital that the death toll was likely to rise following Thursday's bombing.

"At least 72 are dead and over 150 have been injured," Sethar said by telephone.

The attack on Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in the town of Sehwan Sharif is the largest of a wave of bombings to hit Pakistan this week as the Pakistani Taliban and other radical Islamist militants carry out threats of a new offensive.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.

Reuters