40 killed, 100 injured as suicide blast hits shrine in SW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - At least 40 people were killed and over 100 others injured after a suicide blast hit a shrine in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan district on Saturday night, local media and officials said.

Local Urdu TV channel Abb Takk reported that 40 people including women and kids were killed, adding that the blast targeted devotees who played Dhamal, a kind of mystic dance, at Shah Noorani Shrine located at a hilltop in Hub town of the province's Kalat region.

However, the officials put the death toll figure at 30.

Hashim Galzai, the Commissioner of Kalat said that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who blew himself up at the place where the devotees were dancing.

He said that there were over 500 people, coming from different parts of the country, inside the shrine when the blast happened.

Rescue work by Army, government and non-profit organizations is underway, and altogether 87 ambulances carrying doctors and paramedics have been dispatched to the blast site, as there is no major hospital in the remote area where the shrine is located.

Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, the spokesperson of the Balochistan government, said that they have dispatched 50 ambulances to the shrine.

The Inter-Services Public Relations, Pakistani Army's media wing, said that 25 ambulances with doctors and paramedics have left for the blast site and an emergency has been imposed in military hospitals in Kalat region and Karachi.

Hamkim Lasi, head of a non-profit organization Edhi Foundation in the area, said that they have dispatched 12 ambulances to the blast site.

He said that the blast site is hard to access as darkness and tough mountainous terrain is a hindrance to the rescue teams, and the nearest major hospital is in downtown Hub, which is located some 120 km from the blast site.

Superintendent Police Muhammad Jafar said that police and paramilitary troops reached the blast site and cordoned it off.

No group has claimed the attack yet.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast and vowed to eradicate militancy from the country.