Officials said a custodian and his three associates killed 20 people inside a small shrine in eastern Pakistan on Sunday. The incident took place in the Sargodha district of Punjab province late Saturday, when the custodian invited devotees inside the shrine he worked at. Shamsher Khan from the Sargodha police told dpa that the custodian and his companions then killed them with a dagger and large stick.

Two others were injured in the attack. The killers have been arrested and the victims’ bodies sent to Sargodha District Hospital for postmortem. Khan said the custodian summoned the devotees one by one inside his room in the shrine. He then offered them an intoxicating substance before removing their clothes and killing them.

The police have begun their investigation into the motive behind the killings at the Ali Muhammad Gujjar shrine, but Khan rejected early reports that the custodian was mentally ill. A majority of Pakistanis practices Sufi Islam, a mystical form of the religion that stands opposed to the Taliban’s understanding of a narrow and militant Islam.

Shrines to mystics can draw thousands of devotees throughout the year, particularly on the anniversaries of their births and deaths.

NAN