2:57 PM
Muhammad Zai Khan
A suicide bomber demolished a mosque in Darra Adam Khel as Friday prayers were ending, killing at least 66 people after a relative lull in militant violence, provincial government officials said.
The attack, Pakistan's biggest since September, occurred in Darra Adam Khel, a suburb of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province capital Peshawar.
"Now the death toll is 66. It may rise further because several injured are in critical condition," Shahid Ullah, a senior provincial government official, told Reuters. He said 80 people were wounded.
About 300 people had gathered just after prayers when the bomber walked into the Waali Mosque's main hall and detonated himself, according to witnesses.
"I had just finished the prayers when there was a big explosion. It was very terrifying. I don't know what happened later. I just fell down," 15-year-old Mohib Ullah said.
Ullah said guards at the mosque gates tried to stop the bomber but he managed to get in.
Officials at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said two children were among the dead.
Video from outside the hospital showed screaming women, white-bearded old men in blood-stained clothes and a child being wheeled into the emergency room.
Officials said the mosque was owned by a pro-government tribal elder who could be the target of the attack but it was not clear whether he was hit
The attack, Pakistan's biggest since September, occurred in Darra Adam Khel, a suburb of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province capital Peshawar.
"Now the death toll is 66. It may rise further because several injured are in critical condition," Shahid Ullah, a senior provincial government official, told Reuters. He said 80 people were wounded.
About 300 people had gathered just after prayers when the bomber walked into the Waali Mosque's main hall and detonated himself, according to witnesses.
"I had just finished the prayers when there was a big explosion. It was very terrifying. I don't know what happened later. I just fell down," 15-year-old Mohib Ullah said.
Ullah said guards at the mosque gates tried to stop the bomber but he managed to get in.
Officials at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said two children were among the dead.
Video from outside the hospital showed screaming women, white-bearded old men in blood-stained clothes and a child being wheeled into the emergency room.
Officials said the mosque was owned by a pro-government tribal elder who could be the target of the attack but it was not clear whether he was hit
