More than two dozen people have been killed and about 150 others wounded in an explosion at a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, according to officials, Al Jazeera TV Channel reports.
Muhammed Asim, Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson in Peshawar, told Al Jazeera at least 28 people were killed on Monday and more than 70 injured people were brought in for treatment. A Peshawar police official told Al Jazeera that about 150 people were injured in total.
Authorities said part of the building collapsed and that many people were feared to be trapped under the rubble.
Peshawar’s police chief, Muhammad Ijaz Khan, said in a televised statement that the capacity of the main hall of the mosque was nearly 300 and it was “nearly full” at the time of the explosion.
“We cannot at the moment confirm there was a suicide attacker but we need to conduct more investigations,” he said. “However, there is a possibility of there being a suicide bomber.”
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.