Death Toll Rises To 24 In Pakistan Shrine Suicide Bombing

Pakistani mourners dig graves for the victims of a suicide blast outside the Sufi shrine in Jhal Magsi.

Pakistani police say the death toll from a suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in the country's southwest has increased to 24 after four victims died at a hospital overnight.

The attack took place on October 5 in the Jhal Magsi district, which is located about 300 kilometers east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province.

Senior police officer Mohammad Iqbal said on October 7 that more than 20 victims were still receiving treatment, some of them with critical injuries.

The extremist Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack followed a bombing on the same shrine in 2005 that killed 35 people.

In February, IS militants claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in Sindh Province in which 88 people were killed.

Sufism is a branch of Islam that espouses a mystical, inner belief and incorporates music in its worship. It has been rejected as heretical by IS militants and other extremists, who hold a fundamentalist view of Islam.

Based on reporting by AP