Survivors of the bomb attack on a shrine in south-west Pakistan that killed dozens of people spoke of their horror on Sunday.

The blast, later confirmed to be the work of a teenage suicide bomber, hit male and female worshippers on Saturday as they were dancing and chanting at the Sufi shrine Shah Noorani, some 750 km (460 miles) south of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province.

Mohammad Shehzad, a 25-year-old who had travelled in a group of 120 pilgrims, told AFP: “The pressure of the blast was so strong, people were blown away. Everyone was running, shouting and searching for families.

“Children were looking for the mothers and fathers. People looking for brothers and sisters but no one was able to listen to their cries.”

The attack killed 52 people and wounded more than 105 and was the fourth deadliest in Pakistan this year. Survivors wrapped themselves in blankets and braved the cold under open skies overnight as they made their way home.

Witnesses said it took several hours for rescue services to reach the remote shrine, which is located on a hilltop in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan several kilometres away from surrounding villages, with poor mobile network coverage.

Hafeez Ali, a 28-year-old mechanic, said: “We had left the area only five minutes before the attack to go and cook our dinner. From our viewpoint on a hill, we could see three whirling dervishes dancing to a drummer, as hundreds formed a circle around them. Then came the explosion.



“We realised that it was a bomb blast. Two of us rushed down and saw the bodies scattered all around – mostly children. We also saw the drum beater dead and his exploded drum was lying nearby.”

Sarfraz Bugti, the province’s home minister, told AFP the blast was carried out by a teenage suicide bomber.



“We have found body parts of the bomber which place his age at around 16 to 18,” he said.

Islamic State had claimed responsibility overnight, releasing a photo of the purported attacker – a youth dressed in a white tunic with a green backpack – via its affiliated Amaq news agency.

It was the second major assault in the province claimed by Isis in as many months, following a raid on a police academy in the same province that killed 61 people.