Taliban attack Sufi shrine in Pak, kill 41 – TOI – 5.4.11

Omer Farooq Khan & AGENCIES

Islamabad: At least 41 people were killed and 65 wounded when two Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up at 13th century Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan's shrine at Dera Ghazi Khan in Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday.
    Officials said several thousand people were attending celebrations to mark the saint's anniversary when the bombers struck crowds outside the complex. A stampede followed the bombings. But it was unclear whether that caused any casualties.
    "These were suicide bombings and we arrested an attacker who could not completely detonate the explosives on his body. He was wounded," said police officer Zahid Ali. Officials said the attackers came on foot and blew themselves up when police on duty stopped them.
    Eyewitnesses said people started running outside the shrine. "Women and children were crying and screaming. It was like hell,'' an eyewitness said. TV footage showed ambulances racing to hospitals and volunteers helping blood-soaked victims. Many of those wounded were in a serious condition.
    Shrines in Pakistan range from one-room tombs in small villages to large complexes in major cities that attract thousands every day. Majority of Pakistanis follow Sufism.
    Taliban, who have repeatedly attacked the country's Shi'ite, Sufi shrines, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings. "Our men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation for government operations against our people in the northwest,'' Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said from an undisclosed location.
    A bomb blast at a Sufi shrine in Punjab's Pak Pattan town killed six people in last October. Forty-two people were killed in a bomb attack on Pakistan's most important Sufi shrine in Lahore. Two suicide blasts at Karachi's Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine killed 16 people last year.
    Taliban have carried out hundreds of attacks in Pakistan over the last three years, targeting government buildings and security forces, Western targets like embassies and hotels besides places of worship. More than 4,150 people have been killed in suicide attacks and bomb explosions since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.