Muslims pray to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sept. 13, 2016. (B.K. Bangash/AP)
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber detonated a deadly blast Friday inside a crowded mosque in Pakistan’s tribal area near the Afghan border, killing at least 20 people marking the end of a Muslim festival, a government official said.
The Reuters news agency, citing a regional official, said the death toll had risen to at least 25, but the report could be confirmed independently. The government official added that least 23 people were wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the tribal areas are strongholds of various militant groups that include one faction blamed for recent assaults in the area.
The attack came a day after a woman was killed in the same area, the Mohmand district, after militants threw grenades and opened fire at the house of a pro-government tribal elder, officials said.
The government official, citing reports from local tribesmen, said a suicide bomber entered a village mosque while more than 300 worshippers were attending weekly prayers just after noon. Shouting “God is great,” he detonated the explosion, the official said.
The attack came just after the final day of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim festival that includes animal sacrifices and several days of celebration. The Friday prayers were a final ritual after a busy week of feasting and family gatherings.
Naveed Akbar, the federal government’s assistant agent in the semi-autonomous tribal agency, said Friday that the suicide bomber “and his facilitators” appeared to have timed the attack to create a “high casualty ratio” since Friday prayers are the most heavily attended of the week.
Officials said they suspected that Jamat ul Ahrar, a splinter group from larger Pakistan-based extremists, was responsible for the attack. The group had claimed it carried out the killing of a Mohmand tribal elder earlier last week.
The same group also claimed responsibility for a recent suicide bombing that killed 14 people outside a courthouse in nearby Mardan, and also for a massive bombing outside a hospital in the southern city of Quetta in August, which killed more than 70 people, most of them lawyers.
The Pakistan army launched a massive operation two years ago against the Taliban and other armed militant groups in the country’s border tribal areas. Many of their fighters were driven into Afghanistan and took up arms against the Kabul government, some in alliance with Islamic State militants.
Constable reported from Islamabad, Pakistan.
