News Desk\/Ali Bhai Kamran
\nSEHWAN\/KARACHI
\nA suicide bomber attacked the crowded Sufi shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan on Thursday, with police sources stating that the death toll had risen to over 50.
\nGovernment and police officials said over 100 people have been injured in the attack, which took place as a dhamaal was taking place at the shrine. A large number of women and children were said to be among the\u00a0casualties.
\nPolice officials in Sehwan said the blast took place inside the shrine, with the\u00a0Assistant Superintendent of Police in Sehwan confirming it was a suicide bombing.
\n\u201cThe loud explosion took place inside the complex of the shrine,\u201d ASP Rashid told Geo News, with eyewitnesses reporting a stampede inside the crowded shrine following the explosion.
\nTerrorist organisation Daesh claimed responsibility of the attack.
\nLarge crowds of people, from different parts of the province, were gathered at the shrine when the blast took place.
\nDevotees throng to the shrine of the revered Sufi saint every Thursday to participate in a dhamaal and prayers.\u00a0According to reports, the explosion took place after devotees had gathered inside the premises of the shrine.\u00a0A high number of casualties were feared because of the crowd of people gathered at the shrine.
\nThe wounded were shifted to hospitals in nearby areas.
\nLack of medical facilities
\nSehwan is located in Jamshoro district which is Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah\u2019s constituency.\u00a0The area is located far from any hospital, with the nearest medical complex located 40 to 50 kilometres from the site of the blast.
\nSpeaking to Geo News, the provincial chief minister accepted the lack of adequate medical facilities in Sehwan, but said that the government had ordered ambulances to move from the nearby Dadu and Hyderabad areas.
\n\u201cOur first priority is giving medical treatment to injured as soon as possible. We have moved ambulances from Dadu and Hyderabad. We do not have any helicopters that can fly at night, but we are doing the best we can,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI am trying to go to Sehwan and personally monitor the situation there,\u201d he added.
\nGovernor Sindh Muhammad Zubair condemned the cowardly attack saying it is a part of recent wave of attacks. \u201cWe will fight back these attacks the way we have fought in the past,\u201d he said.
\nThe governor said all efforts being made to rescue as much affectees as could be. \u201cWe are in touch with the provincial government about transporting the wounded to hospitals.\u201d
\nSehwan Sharif lies at a distance of 284.4km (approximately four hours and 43 mins) from Karachi. The distance from Nawabshah to Sehwan is 95.4km, which takes around one hour and 24 mins to travel, while it takes 50 minutes, or 49 kilometres, to travel to Dadu. Sehwan to Jamshoro takes around one hour 47 minutes, having a distance of 134.3km in between.
\n\u2018Attack on Pakistan\u2019s future\u2019
\nIn a statement, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decried the attack on the Sufi shrine.
\n\u201cThe past few days have been hard, and my heart is with the victims,\u201d Sharif said. \u201cBut we can\u2019t let these events divide us, or scare us. We must stand united in this struggle for the Pakistani identity, and universal humanity.\u201d
\n\u201cSufi saints played a major role in the foundation of Pakistan,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cThis is an attack on Pakistan\u2019s future.\u201d
\nWave of terrorist attacks
\nTerrorists have targeted shrines of Sufi saints in the past.
\nIn November, at least 52 people\u00a0were killed and more than 100 got injured in a suicide blast in Shah Noorani shrine near Hub in Balochistan\u2019s Lasbella district. Additional Deputy Commissioner Lasbella Tariq Mengal had said that 500 to 600 people were in the shrine at the time of the blast.
\nThe attack in Sehwan on Thursday is part of a recent wave of terrorist attacks in the country, the fifth blast in less than a week targeting innocent people.
\nOn Monday, a suicide attack in Lahore killed 14 people and wounded over 60 others.
\nOn Wednesday, three suicide bombers targeted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the adjoining tribal areas leaving around leaving seven people dead.
\nOne of the incidents occurred in Peshawar where a suicide bomber riding a motorbike hit a vehicle carrying civil judges, while two other suicide bombers blew themselves up at separate locations in Mohmand Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk\/Ali Bhai Kamran SEHWAN\/KARACHI A suicide bomber attacked the crowded Sufi shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan on Thursday, with police sources stating that the death toll had risen to over 50. Government and police officials said over 100 people have been injured in the attack, which took place as a dhamaal was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n