At least 22 people, including five children, were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber targeted a Muharram procession in Pakistan's Sindh province on Friday night, media reported.
The victims were shifted to Larkana Hospital, where an emergency had been declared, Dawn TV reported.
Police confirmed that over 40 people, including several children and women, were injured in the attack.
"The police have recovered the lower part of the body, of the possible suicide bomber," Malik Zafar Iqbal Awan, a local police officer, claimed.
The death toll is expected to rise as at least 15 of the injured people were in a critical condition, the medical superintendent of the hospital said.
Following the blast, a group of angry protestors stormed the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police accusing the law enforcement agencies of providing inadequate security to the procession.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
In a similar incident last Thursday, 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber exploded outside a Shia mosque in Bolan area of Balochistan province.
The attack was the second deadliest bombing on a Shia congregation after 61 people were killed and at least another 60 injured in a bomb explosion in Shikarpur district on 30 January this year.
Security personnel cordoned off the area, while a search and rescue operation was being carried out.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the blast and directed hospital authorities to provide best possible medical treatment to the injured.
Sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.
Cell phone services have also been suspended in major cities, including Karachi, as a security measure during the observance of Muharram.
During Muharram, public gatherings and processions mark Hazrat Hussein's martydom in the battle of Karbala, Iraq, in 680 AD.
