A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people and injured a furtther 80 in a mosque in northwest Pakistan today where a former interior minister was offering Muslim Eid festival prayers with worshippers, the government said.
The former minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, survived unhurt, but at least 80 people were wounded in the blast. At least 10 of the wounded were in a critical condition, it was reported.
Mr Sherpao, who was interior minister in President Pervez Musharraf's recently dissolved government and who is now running in January 8 parliamentary elections, was the likely target of the attack at the mosque in his home village, the government said.
Mr Sherpao, who heads a small pro-Musharraf political party, escaped unharmed but his son was injured. The former minister had been injured in April in another suicide attack at a public meeting in Charsadda.
The suspected bomber, sitting in a middle row among the worshippers, detonated his bomb as prayers ended and people gathered around the politician to greet him, said a police official.
Around 1,200 worshippers were at the mosque at the time.