A suicide bomber has struck a crowded Pakistan mosque, killing 43 people and wounding more than 100 during Ramadan prayers, in the country's deadliest attack for three months.
A child injured in a blast lies on a bed at a hospital in Peshawar Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Hasham Ahmed
Blood was splattered across the mosque's main hall and walls, while the
building's doors and windows were destroyed and its ceiling fans mangled by
the blast, according to reports.
Ball bearings used in the suicide vest were also scattered across the mosque
in Jamrud town, 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Peshawar, the main city in the
Khyber tribal district where much of the violence in Pakistan is
concentrated.
The attack came as a US drone strike killed four militants in the northwestern
tribal area of Pakistan, which where US special forces killed Osama bin
Laden on May 2.
More than 500 people had packed into the mosque. A senior official from the
Khyber tribal district administration Sayed Ahmed Jan said that the bomb had
exploded seconds after the main prayer ended.
The deputy chief of the semi-autonomous administration said that 43 people had
been killed and 117 wounded.
"It was a suicide attack. The bomber was wearing about 8-10 kg of explosives
and was on foot. He detonated in the main prayer hall," said Khalid Mumtaz
Kundi.
Top administration official Mutahar Zeb told AFP that the injured had been taken to nearby hospitals while a bomb disposal squad was at the scene.
Witness Gul Jamal Afridi, 46, a local truck driver told AFP that he had been thrown to the ground in the intensity of the blast.
"I saw smoke and fire. People were dying and crying for help, some were running in panic. I saw body parts and human flesh, it was horrible," he said.
Student Saqib Ullah, 24, said he had tried to help those lying near him after the bomb went off, but found most were already dead.
"I saw my uncle lying in a pool of blood. I ran towards him and picked him up to carry on my back, but he had already died," he said.
Today's bomb was the deadliest since May 13 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a police training centre in a town about 30 kilometres north of Peshawar killing 98 people.
Top administration official Mutahar Zeb told AFP that the injured had been taken to nearby hospitals while a bomb disposal squad was at the scene.
Witness Gul Jamal Afridi, 46, a local truck driver told AFP that he had been thrown to the ground in the intensity of the blast.
"I saw smoke and fire. People were dying and crying for help, some were running in panic. I saw body parts and human flesh, it was horrible," he said.
Student Saqib Ullah, 24, said he had tried to help those lying near him after the bomb went off, but found most were already dead.
"I saw my uncle lying in a pool of blood. I ran towards him and picked him up to carry on my back, but he had already died," he said.
Today's bomb was the deadliest since May 13 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a police training centre in a town about 30 kilometres north of Peshawar killing 98 people.
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