The death toll in the blasts rose to 37 on Thursday, with about 313 injured, government official Sajjad Bhutta said.

The bombs late Wednesday ripped through a Shiite Muslim street procession in the sprawling city of Lahore, which has been frequently targeted by Taliban terrorists over the last two years, often in coordinated attacks on religious minorities.

Anti-Islam Taliban have launched dozens of attacks against Shiites and other Islamic sects and religions in Pakistan in recent years.

Taliban extremists believe it is permissible — even honorable — to kill members of other faiths.

The bombs hit three separate sites as 35,000 Shiites marched through the streets of Lahore in a traditional mourning procession for the Imam Ali (AS), the first Shiite Imam.

The first blast was a smallish time bomb that exploded in the street near a well-known Shiite building.

Minutes later, a young-looking suicide bomber tried to force his way into an area where food was being prepared for the marchers to break the traditional Ramadan fast and blew himself up, said senior police officer Zulfiqar Hameed. Soon after, another suicide bomber detonated himself at an intersection near the end of the procession.

Senior Shiite leader Agha Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi demanded more protection, but said his community would never stop organizing yearly processions for Ali.

“We can sacrifice our life, but can not allow mourning processions to end,” he said.