LAHORE, Pakistan, July 2 (UPI) -- Suicide bombers struck a sacred Sufi shrine in Lahore, killing dozens weeks after a similar tragedy in Pakistan's second largest city, officials said.
Authorities said there were three suicide blasts late Thursday night at the Data Ganj Bakhsh Darbar of patron saint Syed Ali Hajwairi, which remains open at all times to serves its devotees. The shrine was packed at the time of the blasts.
Pakistan Daily Times reported more than 40 people died in the blasts and another 175 were injured, with authorities warning the death toll could rise. Lahore is the capital of Punjab province.
The Times reported there was a large crowd including women and children assembled for the special weekly Thursday night prayers.
The first blast was reported around 11 p.m. in the basement of the sprawling shrine. Minutes later, as people panicked and rushed toward exit doors, a second blast went off, the Times said. The third suicide blast occurred near the main gate of the shrine.
Lahore Commissioner Khustro Pervez was quoted as saying at least 25 of those injured were in critical condition.
Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said two of the attackers entered the shrine and set off the explosions 3 minutes apart. The facility is fitted with surveillance cameras and metal detectors.
CNN reported footage aired by its affiliate showed the first attacker entered through a gate holding a bag and set off alarms as he passed through a metal detector. He later ran to the basement area used for ablutions and blew himself up.
A second attacker was seen entering the shrine minutes later during the confusion and rushing upstairs carrying a bag, where another explosion occurred.
"This sickening poison of extremism will be driven out of our nation and we will not be cowed," Farahnaz Ispahani, a spokeswoman for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, said in a text message to CNN. "Peaceful worshipers have once again been targeted by those who want to destroy the fabric of this great country."
The BBC reported there had been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Taliban militants and their Punjabi Jihadi allies have been involved in several such bombings lately.
The report said the Lahore shrine is largely attended by members of the Barelvi sect, regarded as heretics by the Taliban, whose members mostly belong to the rival Deoband Sunni sect.
Lahore has witnessed a number of militant attacks recently. In one at the end of May, two mosques of a religious minority were attacked.
At least 98 people died and more than 100 were wounded in the attacks on the mosques of the Ahmadis, who belong to a persecuted minority sect in Pakistan.
