50 dead in the data darbar bombing in Lahore

The sectarian warfare continues in Pakistan and after a month of relative calm, suicide bombers stuck in the heart of Lahore at the very shrine of city's patron saint.

Data Darbar is the masoleum-cum-mosque and the resting grounds of the soofi saint Syed Al-Hajveri. The shrine is visited by millions of liberal Sunni Muslims every year.

By targeting a shrine revered by the liberal Sunnis, the extremist Muslims, who are overwhelmingly Deobandis or Saudi-inspired Wahabis, have once again proven their disdain for not just the Muslim minorities, Shiites and Qadianis, but also for the majority mainstream Sunnis in Pakistan who practice a liberal version of Islam.

The battle for the soul of Sunni Islam is likely to get intensified in the months to come in Pakistan. With tit-for-tat sectarian killings in full-swing in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, the suicide bombings in Lahore make the second largest city in Pakistan equally unsafe and unstable.

Recent suicide attacks in Pakistan

• 28 May 2010 - 93 people killed in attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore
• 19 Apr 2010 - At least 23 die in suicide bombing at market in Peshawar
• 1 Jan 2010 - A bomb at a volleyball match kills about 100
• 28 Oct 2009 - At least 120 die in car bomb attack on packed market in Peshawar
• 15 Oct 2009 - About 40 die in a series of gun and bomb attacks
• 9 Oct 2009 - At least 50 die in Peshawar suicide blast