Mosque Bombing in Pakistan Leaves Dozens Dead

The attack in the Khyber region was the bloodiest in Pakistan this year and came hours before President Barack Obama unveiled a revised U.S. strategy that emphasized the need to eradicate militant havens along the Pakistan-Afghan frontier.

The bomber set off his explosives as the prayer leader began the service, according to media reports.

"The moment the imam said Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), the blast went off," Tauseer Khan, 70, told Reuters from a hospital bed in the nearby city of Peshawar.

"It was huge. I still can't hear properly," said Khan, who had wounds to his hands and face. His son and grandson were also wounded.

Noor Mohammad, a policeman in the tribal region, told the BBC: "I was standing on the veranda outside the mosque because I was late and could not find space inside. After the explosion, the doors into the mosque caught fire. Moments later, the mosque collapsed."

Rahat Gul, a spokesman for the Khyber administration said 50 people were killed and 75 wounded but Tariq Hayat Khan, Khyber's top government administrator later revised the death toll to 37.

Among the dead were 14 police officers and paramilitary soldiers while 160 were wounded, Khan said.

Between 250 and 300 people were in the mosque at the time of the blast, he said.

"The attacker was seen jumping into the courtyard of the mosque and blowing himself up," Khan told Reuters.

Television footage showed scores of residents and police officers digging frantically with their hands through the ruins of the white-walled mosque, whose roof collapsed in the explosion.

Police, paramilitary forces and government officials were among the worshipers in the mosque near Jamrud town, about 20 miles from the Afghan border. The mosque lies in a rocky valley on the main road along which trucks carry vital supplies to the expanding U.S.-led force in Afghanistan.

Suspected Taliban militants have carried out a string of attacks on both trucks and transport depots along the route in recent months, destroying military vehicles and raising doubts about the reliability of the supply line.

The area has also seen feuds between rival tribal and militant groups, some of them loosely allied with the government, which have included suicide bombings and attacks on mosques.

"Residents of this area had cooperated and helped us a lot. These infidels had warned that they will take revenge," said Khan, according to the Associated Press. "They are the enemy of Pakistan. They are the enemy of Islam."

Rising violence in Pakistan is fueling doubts about the pro-Western government's ability to counter Taliban and al-Qaida militants also blamed for attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.

President Obama's new strategy will aim to disrupt, dismantle and eventually destroy militant sanctuaries in Pakistan and prevent them from establishing safe havens in Afghanistan.

"It's surprising, those who claim that they are doing jihad (Muslim holy war) and then carry out suicide attacks inside mosques during Friday prayers," Khan told Geo TV.

"They are infidels. They are enemies of Pakistan. They are enemies of Islam," he said.

On Thursday, a suicide bomber killed nine people at a restaurant frequented by militants opposed to a top Pakistani Taliban commander in the South Waziristan region, southwest of Khyber.

At least 25 people were killed last month in a suicide bomb attack on a funeral procession in Dera Ismail Khan, a town in North-West Frontier Province, close to the semi-autonomous tribal area, according to the BBC.