A Daesh suicide bomber blew himself up among devotees at the most revered shrine of Sufi Islam in Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 70 people and wounding scores more.
The bomb targeted the Sehwan Sharif shrine in the southern province of Sindh, where thousands of men and women gather every Thursday night for Sufi dance and music, local official Samee Uddin said.
Most of the bodies and body parts taken to hospital were charred beyond recognition, said doctor Moin Ahmed.
The death toll might go up as dozens of the more than 250 wounded were in a critical condition, said Mohamed Rafiq from the Edhi rescue service.
The bomber entered the "loosely secured" compound of the shrine and reached one of the praying verandahs to detonate his explosives-laden vest, local official Munawar Mehsar told the media.
The shrine is dedicated to Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a 13th century Sufi philosopher and poet from the region.
Sufi shrines often come under attack from the Taliban and Daesh, a Sunni extremist group.
A majority of Pakistan's 160 million people practices Sufi Islam, which stands opposed to the Taliban's understanding of a narrow and militant Islam.
In November, more than 50 Sufi devotees were killed when a suicide bomber sent by the Islamic State group attacked a shrine in the south-western province of Balochistan.
Nearly 90 people have been killed in militant attacks since the start of the week.
However, violence has declined in Pakistan since the military pushed back the Taliban, which is allied with al-Qaeda, from regions near the Afghan border in a series of offensives launched from mid-2014.
But the insurgents' ability to launch surprise attacks remains a challenge for security forces and intelligence agencies.
