A suicide bomber has killed at least 50 people and injured more than 100 others when he blew himself up inside a mosque in Pakistan's north western tribal region on Friday, government officials said.
The blast occurred when about 500 hundred people had gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque in Ghundai village of Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region. The area is of strategic importance and serves as the doorway to the Khyber Pass which leads into Afghanistan. The US and NATO forces use Khyber Pass as a principal route for its lethal and non-lethal supplies in the current Afghan theater of conflict.
The Friday prayers normally draw bigger crowds in the month of Ramadan. "Had the mosque's building being caved in, the casualties would have been more," locals said. TV footage from the scene showed a heavily damaged building with marks of pellets on the blackened walls. Prayer caps, shoes and prayer mats were scattered across a bloodied floor and ceiling fans were twisted.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Over 50 killed as Suicide Bomber Explodes in Pakistan Mosque
