ISIL-claimed bombing kills at least 52 at Pakistan shrine

QUETTA, Pakistan

At least 52 people died and more than 100 others were injured on Nov. 12 in a bomb blast at a remote Sufi shrine in Pakistan, officials said, with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claiming the attack.

The blast hit worshippers participating in a ceremony at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Noorani, some 750 kilometers (460 miles) south of Quetta, the provincial capital of restive southern Baluchistan province.

“At least 52 people have been killed and some 105 others wounded,” provincial Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti told AFP, adding that there were women and children among the victims.  
 
Local officials said worshippers were taking part in a devotional dance session, which is held daily before dusk, when the blast occurred.

Authorities said they had dispatched ambulances and medical workers from Karachi, a three-hour drive from the shrine - which is located in a remote, mountainous region with limited emergency facilities.

The shrine is revered and visited both by minority Shiites and Sunni Muslims, but militant groups like the Taliban and ISIL consider the practice against Islam.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack via its affiliated news agency Amaq, saying that a suicide bomber targeting the shrine had killed around 35 people and injured 95 others.  

But the provincial home minister said it was not immediately clear whether this was a suicide attack.