44 martyred, 175 injured in Peshawar Police Lines mosque blast.

PESHAWAR -- An apparently powerful suicide blast here at the mosque of Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines on Monday martyred some 44 worshipers, mostly policemen, and injured around 175 others during the Zuhr (afternoon) prayer.

According to a police spokesman, the death toll rose to 44 with 12 more critically injured expired here at the Lady Reading Hospital (LHR) and other medical facilities in the city, where an emergency was imposed.

Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali and Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Shafiullah Khan confirmed the death of 32 worshippers and injuries to 150 others.

The explosion was so powerful that the front portion of the mosque, located in the Red Zone, was razed to the ground. The blast occurred in the front row of the worshipers.

The Rescue 1122 personnel along with police continued the operation to retrieve the worshippers still trapped beneath the debris.

The KP Health Department imposed emergency in all three major hospitals of Peshawar. The governor and LRH spokesman appealed to the people, particularly those having O negative blood group, to donate blood.

Commissioner Peshawar Riaz Mehsud told journalists that there was no shortage of medicines in hospitals and rescue operation for recovery of the trapped worshippers from the mosque's debris had almost been completed.

Capital City Police Officer Peshawar Ejaz Khan told the media that it was too early to comment about the nature of the blast. However, there was the smell of explosives inside the mosque, he added while not ruling out the possibility of a...

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