Death toll from suicide attack in Pakistan climbs to 18

At least 18 people were killed and 27 others wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a shrine in Pakistan's southwestern region on Thursday, officials said.       

The attack took place at Dargah Fatehpur in the Jhal Magsi district of the oil and gas rich Balochistan province, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

 “A suicide bomber blew himself up after he was intercepted by police guards on duty outside the shrine, killing 18 people including three children under the age of 12 and two policemen, and wounding at least 27 others, 14 of them seriously,” provincial home secretary Akbar Harifal told AFP.

A bomb attack on the same shrine killed 35 people in 2005.

“The suicide bomber struck outside the shrine at a time when it was packed with people, attending anniversary celebrations of Syed Cheesal Shah,” Kakar said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but militants and separatists have repeatedly targeted minority Shia Muslims at religious sites, as well as security officials.

Devotees visit the shrine daily, with attendance climbing significantly during festivities.

Balochistan is afflicted by militancy, sectarian violence and a separatist insurgency.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced violence considerably in recent years.

Shrines across Pakistan have been attacked in past by extremists who consider it un-Islamic to pray at the tombs of saints. 

In November 2016, at least 52 people were killed in a bombing at the shrine of Shah Norani in Balochistan

In February this year, a suicide attack, claimed by Daesh, struck a crowded Sufi shrine in Pakistan's Sindh province, killing at least 75 people.