Islamabad: At least 10 people, including three kids, were killed and 20 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a seminary in Pakistan’s Peshawar city Friday afternoon.
The incident happened around 1 p.m. local time in Gulshan Colony area of Peshawar in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Xinhua reported citing local news channel Capital TV.
“I was getting off my car to offer Friday prayer in the Shia seminary in Madrassa Hussania’s mosque when I saw a man rushing into the mosque,” Talib Haider, an eyewitness, told the media.
“He first opened fire at the guards on the main gate and then moved into the mosque. A few moments later, a loud blast was heard from the mosque.”
Locals said that the seminary belonged to local Shia Muslims who gather there every Friday to offer prayers.
Talking to the media, the mosque’s cleric said that the incident happened before the Friday prayer and there were around 200 people inside the mosque when the explosion took place.
The injured people have been shifted to Lady Reading Hospital where several of them were reportedly in critical condition.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.
Police have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.
Both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast and directed that the best medical treatment be given to the injured people.
10 killed in Pakistan bombing
