4 Apr 2011

Bombs detonated at Sufi shrine

8:28 am on 4 April 2011

Two suicide bombers have killed at least 41 people and wounded many more at a shrine in Pakistan.

The explosions were near the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in Punjab, as Sufi Muslim devotees gathered for the annual three-day festival of Urs.

The BBC reports thousands of people were there at the time.

Sufis, a minority Muslim group who follow mystical beliefs, are regarded as heretical by hardliners.

Police said a third attacker was caught before he could detonate his explosives.

The attack was the third on Sufi shrines in a year. The Taliban says it was responsible.

A suicide attack at another shrine in Punjab Province killed six people last October.

Another bombing at a shrine in Lahore left 42 people dead earlier this year.