SEHWAN SHARIF: Pakistani security forces killed dozens of suspected militants on Friday, a day after IS claimed a suicide bombing that killed more than 80 worshippers at a Sufi shrine in the latest of a series of attacks across the country.
The bombing at the famed Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in southern Sindh province was Pakistan’s deadliest attack in two years, killing at least 88 people and underlining the threat of militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban and IS.
With authorities facing angry criticism for failing to tighten security before the bomber struck, analysts warned that the wave of violence pointed to a major escalation in militants’ attempts to destabilise the region. “This is a virtual declaration of war against the state of Pakistan,” said Imtiaz Gul, head of the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad.
With pressure growing for action, Pakistan demanded that neighbouring Afghanistan hand over 76 “terrorists” it said were sheltering over the border.
The bombings over five days have hit all four of Pakistan’s provinces and two major cities, killing around 100 people and shaking a nascent sense that the worst of the country’s militant violence may be in the past.
A series of military operations against insurgent groups operating in Pakistan had encouraged hopes that their leaders were scattered.
“But this has led to a degree of complacency within our civil-military leadership that perhaps they have completely destroyed these elements, or broken their back,” Gul said.
If so, that impression has been shattered by the events of recent days.
At Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, the white marble floor was still marked by blood on Friday, and a pile of abandoned shoes and slippers was heaped in the courtyard, many of them belonging to victims.
Outside, protesters shouted slogans at police, who they said had failed to protect the shrine.
“I wish I could have been here and died in the blast last night,” a devastated Ali Hussain said, sitting on the floor of the shrine.
He said that local Sufis had asked for better security after a separate bombing this week killed 13 people in the eastern city of Lahore, but added: “No one bothered to secure this place”.
Anwer Ali, 25, rushed to the shrine after he heard the explosion, and described seeing dead bodies and chaos as people fled the scene.
“There were threats to the shrine. The Taliban had warned that they will attack here, but authorities didn’t take it seriously,” Ali said.
Sindh police chief A D Khawaja said on Friday that the death toll had reached 88 people with scores more wounded. Security forces in Sindh said they killed 18 suspected militants.
On the same day, army and police raids in the northwestern cities of Peshawar and Bannu killed seven militants and another six were killed in shelling on the border with Afghanistan. — Reuters
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