20 dead in Pakistan ritual killings

A former government employee in Pakistan has confessed to the ritual killings of at least 20 followers.

A custodian of a local shrine in Pakistan stands accused of the ritual killings of 20 devotees after the victims were murdered nude with multiple stab wounds.

Senior police officer Mohammad Bilal said that the shrine custodian in a village near the city of Sargodha, some 320 kilometres north of Multan, was arrested Sunday morning along with four others for killing worshippers with batons and knives.

Liaquat Ali Chatta, government administrator of the area, said the custodian, Abdul Waheed, and his four alleged accomplices have been arrested and the matter is being investigated. Chatta said Waheed is a retired government employee and seemed "mentally unstable."

Chatta said the custodian was allegedly in the practice of beating and torturing devotees to cleanse them. He said Waheed had confessed to the murders.

Rana Sanaullah, the law minister for the Punjab provincial government, said an initial investigation showed that Waheed had a collection of followers who would regularly visit the shrine and face torture in the name of religious cleansing.

The shrine was built about two years ago on the grave of local religious leader Ali Mohamamd Gujjar. Shamsher Joya, a local police officer.

Police said the victims were killed at a house adjacent to the shrine and their clothing was found burned.