CCTV captures Pakistan shrine blasts

CCTV has captured the moment that suicide bombers killed at least 41 people and wounded 175 at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan. It was the second major attack on the Punjabi capital of Lahore within a month.

Hundreds of devotees were visiting the marble shrine of the Persian Sufi saint, Syed Ali Hajwairi, in the heart of the city when the attacks occurred.

Pressure is mounting on Pakistan's government to curb militant violence in the country's most economically important province and traditional seat of power.

"We have always remained peaceful but our patience should not be tested any more," said Raghib Naeemi, an anti-Taliban cleric whose outspoken father was killed in a suicide attack in Lahore last year.

Militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have unleashed a wave of attacks across Pakistan in revenge for the military offensives in their strongholds in the northwest of the country near the Afghan border.

Most of the reprisal militant attacks have taken place in the northwest, but militants have stepped up attacks in the heartland of the country, mainly the central province of Punjab, in recent months.

Taliban militants abhor the Sufi strand of Islam and disapprove of Muslims visiting shrines, which is popular with many Pakistanis. Terror groups may have been trying to whip up emotions by attacking sacred religious sites in a bid to destabilise the country.

Security has been stepped up at Sufi shrines across the country as the Pakistani government seeks to project an image of stability in the face of mounting violence.