Families ripped apart in Pakistan shrine attack

AFP, KHUZDAR DISTRICT, Pakistan: Survivors of a massive bomb attack on a shrine in southwest Pakistan that killed dozens spoke of their horror Sunday after families were ripped apart in a strike showing the expanding reach of the Islamic State group.
The blast, later confirmed to be the work of a teenage suicide bomber, hit male and female worshippers as they were dancing and chanting at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Noorani, some 750 kilometres (460 miles) south of Quetta, the provincial capital of restive Balochistan province.
Mohammad Shehzad, a 25-year-old who had travelled in a group of 120 pilgrims, told AFP: “The pressure of the blast was so strong, people were blown away. Everyone was running, shouting and searching for families.
“Children were looking for the mothers and fathers. People looking for brothers and sisters but no one was able to listen to their cries.”
The attack killed 52 and wounded more than 105 and was the fourth deadliest in Pakistan this year. Stricken survivors swathed themselves in blankets and braved the cold under open skies overnight as they made their way home.

 

Families ripped apart in Pakistan shrine attack

AFP, KHUZDAR DISTRICT, Pakistan: Survivors of a massive bomb attack on a shrine in southwest Pakistan that killed dozens spoke of their horror Sunday after families were ripped apart in a strike showing the expanding reach of the Islamic State group. The blast, later confirmed to be the work of a teenage suicide bomber, hit male and female worshippers as they were dancing and chanting at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Noorani, some 750 kilometres (460 miles) south of Quetta, the provincial capital of restive Balochistan province. Mohammad Shehzad, a 25-year-old who had travelled in a group of 120 pilgrims, told AFP: The pressure of the blast was so strong, people were blown away. Everyone was running, shouting and searching for families. Children were looking for the mothers and fathers. People looking for brothers and sisters but no one was able to listen to their cries. The attack killed 52 and wounded more than 105 and was the fourth deadliest in Pakistan this year. Stricken survivors swathed themselves in blankets and braved the cold under open skies overnight as they made their way home.