On 16 February 2017, a suicide bombing took place inside the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Sindh, Pakistan, where pilgrims were performing a Sufi ritual after the evening prayers.

[1] The injured and deceased were immediately shifted to the Taluka Medical Hospital[2] which was not equipped with a trauma centre to deal with emergency cases.

[10] Hours after the attack, law enforcement agencies launched a nationwide crackdown and search operation, during which over 100 militants were killed and scores arrested.

[23] A few days later, several leading Pakistani artists and performers partook in a dhamaal at the shrine as a defiant response to radical Islamists.

"[2] A statement released by the military's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated that the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had ordered that immediate assistance be provided to civil authorities.

[26] ISPR spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, tweeted: "Recent terrorist acts are being executed on directions from hostile powers and from sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

[27][28][29] On 17 February, the Pakistan Army summoned Afghan embassy officials to the General Headquarters and handed over a list of 76 insurgents hiding in Afghanistan.

[31][32] The strikes were confirmed by Afghan sources, who said that several Pakistani artillery rounds had hit Nangarhar Province's Lal Pur District and that "15 to 20 terrorists, among them Commander Rehman Baba, have been killed and many more injured.