Pakistan bombings

LAHORE, Pakistan, July 2 (UPI) -- Dozens of people were killed in a twin suicide bombing attack on an Islamic shrine in Lahore, Pakistan.

Authorities put the death toll at 42, a figure expected to increase, after the late Thursday attacks. Police said one suicide bomber set off his device in an area where people sleep before visiting the Data Darbar shrine and a second person exploded a bomb near an upper-level gate.

In addition to the deaths, nearly 200 people were injured, many in the crush of survivors trying to escape the blast area.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said the bombers were able to enter the shrine despite security measures that included metal detectors and individual searches of people gathering to pray. The newspaper cited authorities as saying each bomb contained 20- to 30 pounds of explosives.

The site of the blasts was a shrine that holds the remains of Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery, an 11th-century Sufi saint who is revered for contributions to the spread of Islam in South Asia. Hundreds of thousands of people visit Data Darbar each year.