Deadly blast hits shrine in Pakistan’s Balochistan – By Al Jazeera staff (Aljazeera.com) / Oct 5 2017
A blast at the entrance of a shrine in central Pakistan has killed at least seven people and wounded dozens, local officials have told Al Jazeera.
The explosion happened on Thursday in Jhal Magsi district in central Balochistan province.
The death toll, provided by the district’s administration, is expected to rise.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Pakistan has been battling the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other armed groups since 2007. Violence has dropped significantly in the past three years, since the launch of a military operation to evict those groups from sanctuaries in the volatile northwestern tribal districts.
Since 2016, however, it has been facing a growing threat of attacks from ISIL, which has claimed responsibility for several suicide attacks, particularly those targeting Sufi shrines such as the one attacked on Thursday.
In November, at least 52 people were killed in an ISIL-claimed suicide bombing at a shrine in the Hub district of Balochistan, south of Jhal Magsi.
In February, ISIL claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on Pakistani soil since 2014, in which a shrine in neighbouring Sindh province was targeted, killing 88 people.
PB/TK – I don’t care what religion one follows, a place of worship should always be safe place to be not a target
