A custodian lured devotees to a shrine in northeastern Pakistan early Sunday, where he stabbed and clobbered them with clubs, killing 20 people, authorities said.
An additional three people are hospitalized in critical condition after the attack in Punjab province, said Liaqat Chattah, deputy police commissioner for Sargodha city, where the attack happened.
Shrine custodian Abdul Waheed drugged and stripped the victims before he killed them, Chattah said.
He used knives and clubs to attack the devotees before two men and two women fled and notified police, he said
Waheed was arrested, along with four other suspects. The police official described the suspect as mentally unstable.
An investigation is underway.
Sargodha is about 105 miles northwest of Lahore.
Shrines to various saints are scattered all over Pakistan, where they are considered places of meditation and refuge, where the homeless find shelter and alms are handed out.
