Lahore attack: At least 10 killed in suicide bombing outside Sufi shrine in Pakistan

Police warn death toll could rise after blast leaves wounded in critical condition

Pakistani security officials inspect the scene of a suicide bomb attack that targeted a Police vehicle outside the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore (EPA)

At least 10 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in a suicide bombing targeting police outside a famous Sufi shrine in Pakistan‘s second largest city of Lahore.

The blast occurred a day after the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at a police checkpoint near the Data Darbar, one of the largest Muslim shrines in South Asia.

A police spokesman said the death toll rose to 10, six of them civilians and four police, after a police officer died of his wounds from the attack that took place at 8.45am local time (16.15GMT).

At least 23 people were wounded. Muhammad Farooq, a spokesman for the city's rescue services, said at least seven of the wounded were in critical condition.

The attack was claimed by the Hizbul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, who said they targeting the police.

Hundreds of pilgrims were inside and outside the shrine, where a local Sufi saint is buried, when the blast took place.

"This attack was carried out at a time when there were no civilians near the police," said Abdul Aziz Yousafzai, a spokesman for the militant group.

The Punjab government is holding an emergency meeting.

Sufism is a mystical form of Islam whose followers have regularly been targeted by Sunni extremists.

Police have set up checkpoints on main roads leading to the shrine and hospitals have been placed on alert.

Officials said a general security alert was in force, but there had bee no specific warning about a threat to the Data Darbar.

In 2010, two suicide bombers attacked the Data Darbar shrine, killing 42 people and wounding 175, in an attack officials said was carried out by the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan has condemned the attack.

Additional reporting by agencies