ISLAMABAD, March 20 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 50 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a powerful bomb exploded Saturday night during an annual pilgrimage at a shrine in a remote district in southwestern Pakistan.

At least 50 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a powerful bomb exploded Saturday night during an annual pilgrimage at a shrine in a remote district in southwestern Pakistan. (Xinhua/AFP)

    The bomb exploded outside the shrine of a saint, Pir Rakhel Shah, at Balochistan province's Jhal Magsi district, some 350 kilometers east of the provincial capital Quetta, reported the local leading English language newspaper The Nation on Sunday.

    Thousands of worshipers had congregated at the shrine of the saint when the bomb went off outside, it said.

    Balochistan Liberation Army's spokesman Daura Khan Baloch has accepted the responsibility of the blast by satellite phone and police have cordoned off the area and started investigations.

    People were found wailing and crying on the place of incident. Some of them also blocked roads in anger, the report said.

    The injured, some in critical condition, were transported to a nearby hospital.

    Between 10,000 and 20,000 had gathered for an annual pilgrimage at the shrine and many were having their evening meals when the bomb went off, the report quoted Syed Kamal Shah, the cousin of the shrine's custodian, as saying.

    He said the death toll might rise to 100. Body parts of the dead were lying scattered at the explosion site.

    Tensions have been high in Pakistan's Balochistan province since fierce gun battles between the local Bugti tribesmen and soldiers on Thursday that left at least 30 dead and 70 injured.

    The tribesmen, who want more royalties and jobs from the province's natural resources, attacked in January Pakistan's largest gas field in what they said was revenge for the rape of a female doctor there. Enditem