Nearly 50 people were killed and double the number injured in a blast in a mosque in the Khyber tribal agency during mid-day prayers on Friday. Police said a teeanged boy — donning a suicide jacket with 10 kg explosives and pellets — detonated himself in the main hall of the Mandokhel Masjid in the Jamrud area.
Eyewitnesses claimed that the blast was in retaliation to an effort by tribal elders to prevent a terrorist group from entering their area earlier this week. The teeanged boy is said to have asked "who will throw us out now" before detonating himself.
So powerful was the explosion that it caused deep cracks in the building and television footage showed debris from parts of the structure that had caved in. The hall where the explosion took place was strewn with prayer caps and mats as the Friday noon prayers are usually crowded; more so during the month of Ramzan.
With the tribal agency having limited medical facilities, the injured were shifted to hospitals in Peshawar and police feared that some more would succumb to their injuries. The blast shattered the uneasy calm that had settled across the country over the past few weeks in view of the lull in terrorist attacks.
While there have been sporadic attacks, they have been small in intensity. The most intensive blast in recent weeks was the Independence Day explosion in a hotel in Quetta on Sunday which was attributed to a Baloch nationalist group; many of which do not celebrate the day or respect the national flag.
