PESHAWAR: At least 10 people were killed and over 60 injured when a bomb exploded in a Tableeghi Markaz in the suburbs of Peshawar on Thursday evening.

According to Peshawar SSP (operations) Najeeb-ur-Rehman, the blast took place when people were offering Maghrib prayers.

He said police guards were checking luggage and carrying out body search at the main entrance of the centre when the blast took place.

AIG Shafqat Malik, chief of the bomb disposal unit, told newsmen that it was a time device containing 5kgs of fine-quality explosives stuffed in a ghee canister, but no ball bearings.

But Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani, quoting people in the mosque’s administration, said it was a cylinder blast. He said the matter would be investigated in light of experts’ reports.

Provincial Minster for Health Shaukat Yousufzai said eight people, a child among them, had been killed. Ten of the 60 people injured were in serious condition in the Lady Reading and Khyber Teaching Hospitals.

A source in the hospital said most of the wounded required blood and appealed for blood donation.

Eyewitness Saleem Khan, of Charsadda Road, said he used to come to the Tableeghi Markaz at Asr prayers every Thursday to stay there till Fajr.

“There was smoke and people started crying and reciting Quranic verses while others tried to leave the mosque,” he said.

Local police official Ijaz Khan said that around 800 people were at the centre.

Media persons were not allowed to enter the mosque.

Bilal Faizi of Rescue Services said most of the wounded had suffered grievous injuries.

“Rescuers faced great difficulty in taking the bodies and the injured to hospital because of darkness and the presence of a large number of people,” he said.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak condemned the blast and termed it a heinous act of terror carried out by anti-state and anti-people elements.

He said that attacking worshippers was an inhuman act and the elements involved in it would not escape justice.

Mr Khattak directed police, security and intelligence forces to bring the saboteurs to book.

Our Correspondent adds from Miramshah: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has said his organisation was not involved in the attack on the Tableeghi Markaz.

He told this correspondent on phone from an unspecified location that the TTP didn’t kill innocent civilians and it had nothing to do with the bomb blast. He, however, claimed responsibility for the attack on a security post in Shangla district.

AFP adds: “Seven patients are in critical condition and I fear a rise in the death toll,” health minister Shaukat Yousufzai said.

Nadeem Khan, 32, who runs a dry fruit shop said he was offering prayers when he heard a loud blast.

“There was a huge explosion on my left side and I fell with a bang on the ground,” he said.

He does not remember what happened next but when he regained consciousness he found himself in a hospital bed.

“I saw doctors removing iron pieces from my left arm and leg,” said Nadeem who was discharged from hospital after first aid.

Siddique Akbar, a 29-year-old student of Peshawar University, said he was standing in the last row at the time of the blast.

“There was a huge explosion and the lights went off, people were screaming and rushing towards the gate pushing each other and I fell to the ground and people were running over me,” he said.

Rescue workers brought Akbar to hospital and discharged after first aid.