SARGODHA, July 18 At least eight people were injured, two of them seriously, when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an imambargah here on Sunday evening. The target was Darululoom Muhammadia Imambargah, witnesses said.

Tariq Abbas, who was injured in the blast, said when worshippers were coming out after Maghrib prayers, a youth tried to enter the mosque-imambargah compound. When a guard stopped him, the teenage intruder blew himself up, killing himself and injuring eight people, Mr Abbas said.

The injured -identified as Fazal Abbas, Asmatullah, Tariq Abbas, Sibtain, Abdul Ghafoor, Sughran, Abdul Qudoos and Ghulam Abbas - were taken to the DHQ hospital.

After the incident, people wielding sticks took to the streets and forced markets to close.

AFP adds Sargodha district administration chief Zulfiqar Ali Shah said it was a suicide bombing. “It was a suicide attack,” Mr Shah said.