41 injured in bomb blast at Islamabad shrine

At least 41 people were injured when a bomb ripped through a Sufi shrine on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, police said on Saturday.

The blast occurred on Friday in Pandorian village, about 15 kilometers of from Islamabad, as devotees gathered to mark the death anniversary of a local sufi saint.

About 300 people were present in the premises of the building when the low intensity improvised explosive device went off, a police official said.

Another police official said 41 people were injured, who were shifted to three hospitals of Islamabad and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack that came after police launched a search operation yesterday to comb the suburban villages of Islamabad amid reports of presence of militants.

Pakistan has already increased security around the capital after the launch of a military operation in North Waziristan on Sunday in which over 200 militants have been killed.