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5 Killed in Pakistan Blast

25 October 2010 20:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Officials in Pakistan say a bomb blast at a Sufi Muslim shrine has killed at least five people and wounded at least 13 others in the countryâ€™s east, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
Regional Police Chief Amjad Javed Saleem says two men riding a motorcycle planted the bomb at the gate of the shrine in the city of Pak Pattan in Punjab province early Monday.
Police say the bomb erupted into a huge fireball that blew up a boundary wall and damaged several shops and stalls outside the shrine.
However, officials say that the mausoleum of Baba Farid, a 12th century saint, was not damaged.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
Sufi worshippers, who practice a mystical form of Islam, have frequently been the target of attacks in Pakistan.
Earlier this month, a suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in the eastern city of Karachi killed at least eight people.
Militant Islamist groups reject some Sufi practices as un-Islamic.
Separately, Pakistani officials say a roadside bomb killed three people and wounded two in the Orakzai tribal region Monday.
Security forces declared victory over the Taliban in the tribal district in June, but attacks by militants have continued.