Blast in Pakistan mosque kills 40

ISLAMABAD: A bomb blast killed around 40 worshippers attending Friday prayers at a mosque in a remote area of northwest Pakistan, a senior official said.

"Around 40 people are killed. The death toll is 40. We have no idea as yet how many have been wounded," Atif-ur-Rehman, the senior-most government administrator in Upper Dir, where the explosion occured, said.

Upper Dir is close to Swat valley where Pakistani security forge launched a major offensive last month to expel Taliban militants. Pakistani officials have warned that militants would strike back. US special envoy Richard Holbrooke was due to hold talks with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani on Friday.

Dir's blast is the ninth bomb attack in the country since the offensive began, and the Taliban has threatened more revenge.

The powerful blast occurred when over 200 people were present in the mosque at Hayagai Sherqi in Dir, North West Frontier Province, for Friday prayers, witnesses were quoted as saying by TV news channels.

The explosion damaged the mosque and destroyed several nearby shops. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistani troops are currently conducting operations against the Taliban in Dir and nearby areas in the Malakand division. Nearly 1,300 militants and about 100 soldiers have died so far in the fighting.

This was the second blast to rock Pakistan today. Earlier in the day, a leading Pakistani lawmaker Yaqub Bizenjo was among four people injured in an explosion in his house in the posh Khyaban-e-Rahat area of the port city of Karachi.

Police said the high-intensity blast occurred when the occupants of the house opened a parcel sent to the residence of the lawmaker, Geo TV reported.