Suicide Bomber Kills 50 in Crowded Mosque

A militant blew himself up on Friday in the middle of a Pakistani congregation during prayers to celebrate Eid, killing about 50 people in an apparent attempt on a top politician's life.

REUTERS

Caps of police and other worshippers are scattered on the ground after the suicide bombing.

A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people on Friday in a mosque in the home compound of Pakistan's former interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, in what appeared to be a political attack on the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha. About 100 people were injured.

The bomb, packed with ball bearings and nails, ripped through a crowd of hundreds at a mosque in Sherpao's home compound in a village called Sherpao, not far from Peshawar. The suspected bomber sat in a middle row among the worshippers and set off his bomb as prayers ended and people gathered around Sherpao to greet him, according to Reuters.

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