Deadly blasts hit Pakistan shrine

ANALYSIS

Syed Shoaib Hasan,
BBC News, Karachi

Although no-one has yet said they carried out the attack, Taliban militants and their Punjabi jihadi allies have been involved in several such bombings in the northern Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province.

The shrine is largely frequented by members of the majority Barelvi sect, who are seen as heretics by the Taliban.

Most of the Taliban belong to the rival Deoband Sunni sect, which strongly disapproves of worship at shrines.

Many are also allied to the Sipah-e-Sahaba, and its armed splinter group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which seeks to turn Pakistan into a Deoband Sunni state.

History of attacks

BIG MILITANT ATTACKS

• 28 May 2010 - 93 people killed in attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore
• 19 Apr 2010 - At least 23 die in suicide bombing at market in Peshawar
• 1 Jan 2010 - A bomb at a volleyball match kills about 100
• 28 Oct 2009 - At least 120 die in car bomb attack on packed market in Peshawar
• 15 Oct 2009 - About 40 die in a series of gun and bomb attacks
• 9 Oct 2009 - At least 50 die in Peshawar suicide blast

Lahore has been hit by a series of bomb attacks, including a suicide blast at anti-terrorist offices in March, when at least 13 people died.

In May, more than 90 people were killed in a double attack on the minority Ahmadi sect in the city.

Earlier, security chiefs had been congratulating themselves after what was the first month in two years in which there had been no suicide bombings in Pakistan, the BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad.

They said it was proof the militant networks had been disrupted. Most Pakistanis knew the battle against militancy in this country was far from over, he adds.

Last year Pakistan launched a major military offensive against militant strongholds in South Waziristan.

In December the military said they had achieved victory, but subsequent reports have suggested the militants remain active in the region.