PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bombing at a mosque during Friday prayer in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least 56 people, police and hospital officials said.
The death toll is expected to rise substantially as many of the injured are in critical condition, police and hospital officials said. The authorities have not said who may be behind the attack.
“We are in a state of emergency and the injured are being shifted to the hospital,” police officer Mohammad Sajjad Khan told Reuters.
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The Lady Reading Hospital, where most of the victims of the explosion were taken, said in a statement that 194 people were also brought in wounded.
Senior police official Ijaz Khan confirmed that at least 30 had been killed and that it was a suicide bombing.
He told Reuters that two armed men arrived near the mosque on a motorcycle and were stopped for a search by police on duty outside.
“They opened fire on the police ... and entered the mosque,” he said.
Police are still determining if both had carried out suicide attacks inside the mosque.