Attack on mosque in north-west Pakistan 'kills 45'

[amar123syla]

At least 45 people have been killed and nearly 100 injured in a suicide bomb attack on a mosque in north-west Pakistan, local officials say.

The attack took place during Friday prayers in the Darra Adam Khel area, near Pakistan's tribal regions.

The roof of the mosque had caved in and the death toll was likely to rise, officials say.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, the latest in a series of mosque and shrine bombings.

The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for such attacks in the past and have been active in the Darra area.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the latest bombing may have been a response from pro-Taliban militants to recent military offensives in the Darra area.

'Terrifying'

The mosque that was attacked was in the village of Akhurwal, about 45km (30 miles) south of Peshawar.

All that was left standing was one wall, according to the AFP news agency.

Witnesses contacted by the BBC said the bomber was on foot. He blew himself up at the main gate of the mosque after Friday prayers had ended and worshippers were coming out of the mosque.

"We fear there might be more casualties in the debris," one official said shortly after the blast. Some of the injured are in a critical condition.

Ambulances and volunteers ferried the survivors to nearby hospitals. Rescuers said some victims of the blast had been trapped by debris.

"The blast tossed me up. I fell down," one man told the Associated Press from his hospital bed in Peshawar. "Later, it was just like a graveyard."

A number of children were among the dead and wounded, medics at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital said.

"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 told Reuters news agency.

Some reports say the target could have been a local tribal elder, whose house near the mosque was among those damaged. The elder is reported to have encouraged people to take a stand against the Taliban.

It is not clear if he was among the victims. One report said he now lived in Lahore.

The Darra region links up with Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions in the west and has served as a convenient base for militants attacking Nato supply convoys as well as Shia commuters from Kurram.

Friday's bombing is the deadliest in Pakistan since an attack on a Shia Muslim rally in Quetta killed at least 50 people on 3 September.

Last month 25 people were killed in a blast at a shrine in Punjab province. Another attack at a Karachi shrine two weeks earlier killed nine and was claimed by the Taliban.