MULTAN: A bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded at the gate of the famous Baba Farid Shakar Ganj sufi shrine in central Pakistan’s Pakpattan district during morning prayers Monday, killing at least five people, officials said.
The blast at the shrine in Punjab province was the latest in a string of attacks targeting Sufi shrines in Pakistan.
The dead from Monday’s blast included at least one woman, said Maher Aslam Hayat, a senior government official in Pakpattan. At least 13 others were wounded in the explosion, he said.
The bombing significantly damaged a row of shops outside the shrine, said Hayat. But the shrine itself, which is dedicated to a 12th century Sufi saint, was largely undamaged, he said.
Local TV footage showed the twisted and charred body of the motorcycle on which the bomb was planted. It also showed large piles of broken wood and chunks of concrete from the shops damaged by the blast.
After the attack, religious scholar Mufti Muneebur Rehman, criticised the government for not doing enough to protect the population.
”Our rulers are too busy serving foreign masters and have not prioritised protecting the people and sacred places from terrorists,” said Rehman.
Earlier this month, two suspected suicide bombers attacked a Sufi shrine in Karachi, killing at least eight people and wounding 65 others.
A suicide attack in July killed 47 people at the nation’s most revered Sufi shrine, Data Darbar in Lahore. That attack infuriated many Pakistanis, who saw it as an unjustified assault on peaceful civilians.
Source: DAWN