Friday, March 4, 2011

Mosque Blast Kills 9 in Northwest Pakistan


A bomb has ripped through a crowd of worshippers at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least nine people and wounding 30.

Officials said most of the dead and wounded were poor Pakistanis who were getting free food following Friday prayers near Nowshera in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Witnesses said the blast occurred as they were sitting down to eat. Others described trying to dig survivors out of the rubble.

The mosque is located at a shrine named after Muslim saint Akhund Panju Baba.

Officials said many of the wounded were taken to a medical facility in Peshawar for treatment.

On Thursday, a suicide car bomber killed 15 people — including nine police officers — in Pakistan's Hangu district, near the Afghan border.