| GEO Pakistan | | Death toll in Jamrud mosque suicide attack reaches 50 | Updated at: 1636 PST, Friday, March 27, 2009
 JAMRUD: A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people when he blew himself up in a crowded mosque near a security check post in Jamrud town of Khyber Agency on Friday.
The attack came hours before U.S. President Barack Obama was scheduled to announce a new strategy for the Afghan war, an approach U.S. officials said would also recognise Pakistan as a key part of the conflict.
Police, paramilitary forces and government officials were among the congregation in the mosque, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Afghan border. The bomber set off his explosives as a cleric began prayers.
"So far we have counted 50 bodies," Tariq Hayat Khan, the top administrator in the Khyber region, told Geo news, adding the toll could rise.
Between 250 and 300 people were in the mosque and about 125 wounded had been taken to Sherpao, Lady Reading and other hospitals in Peshawar, he said.
"It was a suicide attack. The bomber was standing in the mosque. It's a two-storey building and it has collapsed," he said.
Worshippers searched through piles of bricks, pulling out bodies and carrying them to ambulances in sheets and on rope beds.
There was no claim of responsibility but militants had earlier threatened to blow up the police post next to the mosque, residents of the area said.
"It's surprising, those who claim that they are doing jihad and then carry out suicide attacks inside mosques during Friday prayers," Khan said.
"They are infidels. They are enemies of Pakistan. They are enemies of Islam," he said. |  |
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