A nationwide security crackdown was launched Friday, officials said, after a bomb ripped through a crowded shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, killing at least 70 people including 20 children and wounding hundreds.
The militant Islamic State group (IS) claimed the attack, which came after a series of bloody extremist assaults this week.
“Both the federal and provincial law enforcement authorities and police started a crackdown across the country before dawn, and scores of suspects have been arrested from different cities,” a government official speaking on condition of anonymity told a foreign news agency.
He said the sweeping operation will continue for the coming days.
A statement from the paramilitary Rangers said at least 18 terrorists had been killed in operations in Sindh overnight, while police officials said 11 more had been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Three alleged terrorists were killed during a search and strike operation in Reggi area of Peshawar. According to officials, weapons and hand-grenades were also recovered from the militants.
Security officials said four terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces after they attempted to attack a security check-post in Orakzai Agency. Four more were killed in Bannu during an exchange of fire.
Police cordoned off the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a revered 13th-century Muslim saint, early Friday, as forensic investigators arrived.
Lack of medical facilities
The popular shrine’s white floor was still smeared with blood, with scattered debris including shoes, shawls, and baby bottles. At least 20 children are believed to be among the dead, the head of Sehwan’s medical facility Moeenuddin Siddiqui said.
At 3:30am the shrine’s caretaker stood among the carnage and defiantly rang its bell, a daily ritual that he vowed to continue, saying he will “not bow down to terrorists”.
The Sindh government announced three days of mourning as Pakistanis vented their grief and fury on social media, bemoaning the lack of medical facilities to help the wounded, with the nearest main hospital some 130 kilometres from the shrine.
The medical facilities in Sehwan are basic, and many of the injured were flown to Karachi and other major cities of Sindh in military planes and helicopters.
Pakistan had seen a dramatic improvement in security in the past two years, but multiple attacks this week have undermined the growing sense of optimism.
