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Pakistanis blame US after shrine attack kills 42
A twin suicide attack that killed 42 at Pakistan's most popular Sufi shrine has angered and frustrated Pakistanis, with some saying Friday that the solution to the country's terror threat is a U.S. exit from Afghanistan.
Most of some two dozen Pakistanis interviewed said that even if Islamist extremists were behind the slaughter at the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, the root cause of the violence was America's war in Afghanistan, its missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions, and its alliance with Islamabad.
The sentiments underscored the low standing of the U.S. here. The wariness of the U.S. was all the more remarkable considering Thursday's attack was a direct assault on the moderate, Sufi-influenced Islam most Pakistanis still practice, and which the Taliban and allied Islamist extremists despise.
"America is killing Muslims in Afghanistan and in our tribal areas, and militants are attacking Pakistan to express anger against the government for supporting America," explained Zahid Umar, 25, a frequent visitor to the Lahore shrine.