PESHAWAR: At least 16 people were killed while another 24 injured in a suspected suicide blast inside a local mosque in Mohmand Agency during Friday prayers.

Confirming the incident, assistant political agent told media that the mosque was located in village Paye Khan in Anbar tehsil of the agency.

“It was a suicide blast,” the assistant political agent quoted a witness as saying.

“The suicide bomber was in crowded mosque, he shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’, and then there was a huge blast,” Naveed Akbar, deputy administrator of Mohmand agency, told media. Another regional official confirmed the blast and said at least 24 people were wounded.

Rescue teams and police arrived at the site of the explosion. The bodies and the injured are being shifted to local hospitals for medical treatment.

On Thursday, a woman was killed in a hand grenade attack in Lower Mohmand Agency. An official of political administration said unidentified militants lobbed grenades and opened fire at the house of a pro-government tribal elder Malik Nasir Khan in Shah Alam Sali, Michni. As a result, a woman who was inside the house was killed. However, the militants fled the site after retaliatory fire from the neighbouring houses.

Earlier this month, at least 14 people were killed and 52 others injured in a suicide attack at Mardan’s district courts. Six lawyers and two policemen were among the dead. The attacker lobbed a hand grenade at the entrance of the court before exploding himself at the main gate of Mardan district courts, DPO Mardan told media.