Pakistan bomb blast kills more than 48 people

Islamabad: More than 48 people were killed and 100 injured when a powerful bomb ripped through a Friday prayer gathering at a mosque in a tribal area in northwest Pakistan, the official media reported.

The devastating blast took place in the Jamrod area of the tribal Khyber region as worshippers began leaving the mosque after the prayers. The mosque was badly damaged, the report said. The wounded were taken to hospitals in Peshawar, capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the army has been undertaking operations against militants.

It was yet to be ascertained whether the explosion was caused by a planted bomb or a suicide attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the carnage, but suspicion fell on the banned Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which in the past has claimed to have carried out many of the deadly attacks, including suicide bombings, in the country in retaliation for the army operations.

Also yesterday, two US missiles struck a house in a tribal region that was once a Pakistani Taliban stronghold, killing four people, intelligence officials said.

The two missiles hit a house in Sheen Warsak village in the South Waziristan tribal area, according to two Pakistani intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

— With inputs from AP