A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people when he blew himself up in a crowded Pakistani mosque near the Afghan border today, government officials said.
The attack came hours before President Barack Obama was scheduled to announce a new strategy for the Afghan war, an approach US officials said would also recognize Pakistan as a key part of the conflict.
Militant violence has surged in nuclear-armed Pakistan since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on the security forces and government and Western targets.
Police, paramilitary forces and government officials were among the congregation in the mosque near Jamrud town, about 30km from the Afghan border, when the attack happened.
The bomber set off his explosives as an imam, or prayer leader, began the service.
"The moment the imam said Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), the blast went off," said Tauseer Khan, 70, from a hospital bed in the nearby Pakistani city of Peshawar.
"It was huge. I still can't hear properly," said Khan, who had wounds to his hands and face. His son and grandson were also wounded.
Rahat Gul, a spokesman for the Khyber administration, said 50 people were killed and 75 wounded.
Between 250 and 300 people were in the mosque, said Tariq Hayat Khan, the region's top administrator.
"It was a suicide attack. The bomber was standing in the mosque. It's a two-storey building and it has collapsed," Khan said.
Worshippers searched through piles of bricks, pulling out bodies and carrying them to ambulances in sheets and on rope beds, television pictures showed.
Police caps, prayer caps, prayer beads and mobiles telephones were later lined up on a wall outside the mosque.
Reuters