A bomb exploded in a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani town of Nowshera today, killing at least nine people and wounding over 30, police and hospital officials said.
The blast took place when food was being distributed to the poor after midday prayers.
"Many people had left the mosque after prayers. Otherwise losses would have been higher," said a Nowshera police official.
Pakistan has seen a wave of suicide attacks in the past three years, many in the country's northwest frontier region with Afghanistan, where the Pakistan military is battling Taliban insurgents.
A suicide bomber set off explosives in a vehicle at a security checkpoint in the northwest Pakistani town of Hangu yesterday, killing nine people.
The army has launched a series of offensives over the past two years in Pakistan's northwest, which it says have weakened the Taliban.
Analysts, though, question their effectiveness because militants usually go on to establish strongholds elsewhere.
Reuters