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Pakistan mosque blast 'kills 20' | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least 20 people have been killed after a suicide bomber detonated a device at the entrance to a Shia mosque in north-east Pakistan, police say. | |
Dozens of others were injured in the blast south of the capital, Islamabad. | |
A religious congregation attended by upwards of 1,000 people was taking place at the mosque in the Chakwal area of Punjab province. | |
A day earlier eight paramilitary soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on an Islamabad security base. | |
Nadim Hasan Asif, a top regional security official, said the bomber "was stopped at the entrance (to the mosque) and pushed himself in and exploded," AP news agency reported. | |
Another official, provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah told AFP: "The bomber was intercepted at the entrance otherwise he could have caused large-scale casualties." | |
Eyewitnesses described the bomber as a male teenager dressed in black. | |
A doctor at a nearby hospital said more than 60 people were injured and that some of them were in a critical condition. | |
It is not clear who was behind the latest attack but analysts say it appeared to be sectarian in nature. | |
Pakistan has a long history of tit-for-tat attacks by militants from the majority Sunni and minority Shia communities and thousands of people have been killed, correspondents say. | |
Last month, a suicide bomber killed 48 people and wounded many others at a mosque near the Afghan border in the worst such attack to strike Pakistan this year. |