A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and wounded nearly 170 others during Friday prayers at a Shiite mosque in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, police and government officials said on Monday.
Footage from the scene shows bloody bodies lying on the carpeted floor of the mosque, surrounded by pieces of glass, debris and panicked worshippers.
Dozens more wounded lay in the gardens of the Qadi Tul Kubra Imambarg mosque, in a semi-urban area on the outskirts of Islamabad, as people called for help.
Reuters reports that bomb attacks are rare in the heavily guarded capital, although Pakistan has been hit by a growing wave of militant violence in recent years.
"The death toll in the blast has risen. A total of 31 people have lost their lives. The number of injured taken to hospitals has risen to 169," Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Memon said in a statement.
Two police officials said the attacker was stopped at the mosque gate before detonating the bomb. They asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Shiites, who are a minority in the predominantly Sunni Muslim country of 241 million, have previously been the target of sectarian violence, including from the Sunni Islamist militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which considers them heretics.
A suicide bombing in Islamabad on November 11 killed 12 people and wounded 27, in an attack that Pakistan said was carried out by an Afghan national. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
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