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2nd LD Writethru: 20 killed, over 40 injured as blast hits Shiite mosque in southern Pakistan

Xinhua, January 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least 20 people were killed and over 40 others injured as a blast hit a Shiite Mosque in Pakistan's southern district of Shikarpur on Friday afternoon, officials said.

Medical Superintendent of the Shikarpur Hospital said that at least 20 bodies and over 40 others injured were brought to the hospital.

The official said death toll may further rise as a number of injured were in critical condition.

Local Urdu TV channel ARY quoted unidentified police sources as saying that the blast was of suicide nature and it happened at about 1:50 p.m. local time during Friday prayers.

There is no official confirmation of the blast so far.

Bomb disposal squad of police is collecting the evidences to know the reason of the blast.

District Superintendent Police of Shikarpur, a district in the northern part of Sindh Province in southern Pakistan, said the blast hit the mosque when people were offering their Friday prayers in Lakhi Dar area of Shikarpur.

Following the blast, roof of the mosque also collapsed and a number of people have reportedly been trapped under the debris.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to the district hospital in the city.

Provincial Health Minister Jam Mehtab said severely injured people are being shifted to hospitals of other nearby cities for treatment in intensive care units.

The bomb attack took place at a time when the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was chairing a meeting on the law and order situation in southern port city of Karachi, capital of southern Sindh Province.

Sharif has condemned the bomb attack and sought a report about it.

He has also directed the concerned departments to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured people.

No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack yet. Endi