Mosque bombing kills eight in Pakistan

Mar 4, 2011, 11:30 GMT

Islamabad - At least eight people were killed Friday and 31 injured when a bomb exploded in a Sufi mosque in north-western Pakistan, officials said.

The blast took place during Friday prayers at the Akhund Panju Baba mosque in the Nowshera district, 14 kilometres east of Peshawar, capital of the troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

A time bomb loaded with about 2.5 kilograms of explosive material was planted in the mosque, said the district's senior police officer, Muhammad Quresh Khan.

The explosion occurred after prayers as food was being distributed, witness Abdul Wasih said.

The mosque is part of a 500-year-old shrine to Sufi saint Akhund Panju Baba, where free food is provided to pilgrims.

Hardline Islamists oppose the Sufi practice of visiting shrines and have carried out a number of attacks at Sufi shrines and mosques.

Nowshera has been the scene of several such attacks, including a suicide bombing at a mosque in June 2009, which killed six worshippers.

Senior provincial minister Bashir Bilour condemned Friday's attack and criticized the militants for not sparing common people or holy sites.

'But we will continue to fight against them and continue to make sacrifices,' Bilour said. 'We will not sit back until the evil of militancy is eliminated.'

Read more about Pakistan Conflict