Pakistan cracks down on militants after IS shrine attack
ISLAMABAD — A brutal attack on a beloved Sufi shrine that killed 88 people raised fears that the Islamic State group has become emboldened in Pakistan, aided by an army of homegrown militants benefiting from hideouts in neighbouring Afghanistan, analysts and officials said Friday.
Pakistani security forces have carried out sweeping country-wide raids following Thursday’s bombing of the shrine in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province that also wounded 343 people. The military’s public relations wing reported on its official twitter account that more than 100 suspected “terrorists” were killed in the raids, while government officials lashed out at Kabul accusing the Afghan government of ignoring earlier pleas to crackdown on militant hideouts.
Zahid Hussain, an expert on militants in the region, said a toxic mix of violent Sunni militant groups, many belonging to banned groups that are flourishing under new names, have wrapped themselves in the banner of the Islamic State group.
“The Islamic State (group) might not have a strong organizational structure in Pakistan but we have thousands of members of banned groups sympathetic to the (their) ideology,” Hussain said in an interview. “They subscribe to the Islamic State (group) world view.”