- Suicide bomber targeted Balochistan shrine in Jhal Magsi
- At least 18 people were killed and 30 injured in the attack
- Police officer apprehended the bomber and died in the attack
- Devotees had come to mourn the death of a local spiritual leader
A suicide bombing at a shrine in southwest Pakistan killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 30 on Thursday in the latest sectarian attack in Balochistan province, authorities said.
Minority Islamic groups in the province are routinely attacked by militant outfits including Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for several bombings.
A police officer had apprehended the bomber at the entrance to the Sufi shrine and was among those killed, but his heroic action reduced the number of casualties, Baluchistan home minister Sarfraz Bugti told Reuters.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti told the media that 18 people including a police constable and three children were killed in the blast.
The shrine in the district of Jhal Magsi was packed with devotees who had come to mourn the death of a local spiritual leader.
Such incidents fuel concern about security for projects in the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a planned transport and energy route from western China to Balochistan’s deep-water port of Gwadar.
The province has been rocked by violence on two fronts for over a decade. As well as the Taliban and other Sunni Islamist militants, Baluchistan separatists mount attacks on targets linked to the central government.
A suicide bomber killed 52 people and wounded over 100 at a Baluchistan Sufi shrine in November last year, in an attack claimed by Islamic State. In February, ISIS attacked a Sufi shrine in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, killing 83 people.
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