PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A teenage suicide attacker blew himself up Thursday at a Shiite mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least eight people and wounding 20, officials said.
The explosion happened days before the start of the Muslim religious festival of Ashura, a traditionally tense time when minority Shiite Muslims mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson in the seventh century.
"It was a suicide attack," interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP. "The bomber was 15 or 16 years old and he blew himself up after entering the gate leading to the prayer hall."
Peshawar police Deputy Superintendent Zafarullah Khan said eight people were killed in the bombing. Three bodies were taken to hospital and five were still at the scene, he said.
Witnesses said the attacker opened fire with an assault rifle before detonating himself just inside the mosque in the mainly Sunni city near the Afghan border while more than 100 people were worshipping there.
"I saw a young man push the security men at the gate and then run in firing. Then there was a huge explosion and lots of smoke," Ghulam Abbas, an official at the mosque, told AFP.
"There were loud screams and there are body parts strewn around the gate. The electricity went out, dead bodies are inside and many people were injured," he added.
Pieces of human flesh were stuck to the ceiling and four walls, an AFP correspondent said. Shoes, caps and black flags littered the floor, while the interior of the mosque was scorched.
"People were listening to a sermon when the man opened fire and then blew himself up. There were men, women and children inside, people were screaming," said Waqar Hussein, a worshipper.
"Police have cordoned off the area. The walls were splattered with blood and body parts," Hussein said.
After the attacks, worshippers staged angry protests and beat their chests in mourning outside the mosque, which residents said was half-built and mainly frequented by lower-income residents of the city.
The attack further heightens instability in Pakistan ahead of elections on February 18, which were delayed by six weeks following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
The country has been on edge since the start of the holy month of Moharram, which has in previous years seen a surge in sectarian violence between the minority Shiite and majority Sunni communities.
At least 10 people were killed and about 50 wounded on Monday when a bomb fixed to a motorcycle exploded in Karachi as President Pervez Musharraf visited the southern city.
There have now been four deadly bombings in Pakistan this year, including a suicide attack in the eastern city of Lahore one week ago that killed 16 policemen and four civilians.
More than 800 people have been killed in attacks -- mainly suicide bombings targeting the security forces -- in Pakistan over the past year, making 2007 the deadliest for militant violence in the country's history.
The unrest has fuelled international fears for the stability of the nuclear-armed Islamic republic, a strategic US ally in the "war on terror," ahead of the crucial general elections.
The polls were delayed after the killing of Bhutto, a passionate defender of secular democracy whose murder at an election rally sparked days of deadly rioting across the country.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
