JAMRUD, March 27: About 48 people were killed and 170 injured when a mosque packed with worshippers collapsed after a bomb blast during Juma prayers here on Friday.

Some foreign news agencies put the death toll at 50.

“It was a suicide bombing,” Khyber Agency administrator Tariq Hayat Khan said. He blamed the defunct Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan for the carnage.

“They want to spread terror and any place where they can cause maximum casualties is a legitimate target for them,” he said.

Quoting eyewitnesses, Mr Hayat said the bomber had jumped into the Friday congregation and blew himself up just when the prayers began.

“Just as Imam sahib recited ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ there was this powerful explosion,” a local man said. “It was a horrific scene with human limbs scattered all around,” he said.

Blood-soaked caps, shirts and shoes lay around the debris of the mosque.

There were about 250 to 300 worshippers inside the mosque, and many more outside in the courtyard.

People travelling between Pakistan and Afghanistan usually stop at the mosque to offer prayers.

Among the dead were 11 Khasadar (tribal police) personnel and four paramilitary soldiers from the adjoining Bhagyari checkpost.

The post, manned by 90 to 100 FC and Khasadar men, was attacked by militants about a month ago. One militant was killed during an exchange of fire and two attackers were arrested.

Taliban spokesman for Khyber Agency, Nazir Afridi, had earlier warned the government that if supplies for Nato troops in Afghanistan through Torkham were not stopped his men would attack the post.

Most of the people injured in the mosque blast were taken to Peshawar and admitted to Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hyatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital.

Local people, members of a tribal force and paramilitary troops took part in rescue work and retrieved bodies and the injured from the rubble of the mosque.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani condemned the bombing.

Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan said the perpetrators had committed an inhuman act.

He said that who had killed innocent people were not human beings; “they are animals”.
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