Pakistan,Jan.30: At least three people were killed and more than 70 injured after an explosion at a mosque in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan.
Several people are trapped after part of the building collapsed following the blast, local police said.
Police suspect the explosion was a suicide bombing, local officers told the Associated Press.
At least 70 people have been wounded and several are critically injured, an official at the city’s Lady Reading hospital told Reuters, with the death toll expected to rise.
Many of the wounded in Monday’s attack are policemen, local media reported, with the mosque located in the Police Lines neighbourhood.
The explosion is said to have taken place as worshippers gathered for afternoon prayers.
Mosques in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, have been previously targeted by both ISIS and the Pakistani Taliban.
More than 50 people were killed in a blast at a mosque in the city last March.
Violence has increased in the past year, with many attacks claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Analysts say the group has been emboldened by the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan.
Border areas have been particularly impacted, where the TTP has increased activity against police and security forces.
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