Pakistan shells hit eastern Afghanistan after shrine attack

Afghan officials say Pakistan has launched an assault on an eastern province of the country, following an IS attack on a shrine in southern Pakistan.

Devotees stand outside the shrine of Sufi Muslim Saint Lal Shahbaz Qalander a day after a suicide bomb attack in Sehwan, Pakistan, 17 February 2017. Source: EPA

An Afghan police official says Pakistan has launched a blistering artillery assault on eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, where a self-declared affiliate of the Islamic State group is based.

Gul Agha Roohani, provincial police chief of Nangarhar, says Pakistan fired several artillery rounds early on Friday into the province's Lalpur district, near the Afghan-Pakistan border.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, where a suicide bombing on Thursday killed 75 people and wounded scores more at a Sufi shrine in southern Sindh province.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Pakistan says Thursday's attack and other recent bombings have been masterminded by militants who hide across the border and use sanctuaries in Afghanistan.