The local administration denied the rumours about aerial strikes by the Pakistani fighter jets on the compound, saying the explosives used in bomb making exploded, causing the death of 24 people, including 14 militants.
The assailants fired indiscriminately at the temple built by the local Hindu community on Sunday, prompting a police unit led by Kashmore-Kandhkot SSP Irfan Sammo to reach the scene.
Police officers and other officials in Pakistan's Punjab province have been suspended by chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for leaking the suspected attacker's confessional video statement after the gun attack on former prime minister Imran Khan.
After observing a six-year 'informal' moratorium on capital punishments, Pakistan is all set to hang a death row prisoner on September 18, amid outcry by human rights activists demanding abolition of the death penalty.
The attackers then manhandled him and also tortured his driver before fleeing from the scene.
"Nothing new for me. I was banned twice in the past. Lost jobs twice. Survived assassination attempts but cannot stop raising voice for the rights given in the Constitution. This time I'm ready for any consequences and ready to go at any extent because they are threatening my family," he tweeted.
Over 900 Pakistani women were killed last year in the name of honour for allegedly shaming their families while nearly 4,500 others were the target of domestic violence, the country's top rights watchdog said in a report on Thursday.
A human rights reports rubbished President Pervez Musharraf's assertion that the rampaging women armed with sticks are being tolerated for the time being to avoid large-scale violence in the event of a crackdown on the Islamists.
Protesting against enforced disappearances in Balochistan, Abdul Qadeer Baloch, 72, has led a small group that has covered more than 2,000 kilometres on foot, breaking the 84-year-old record set by Mahatma Gandhi during his Dandi march. Hamid Mir reports from Islamabad.
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