Pakistan bombing kills at least 50

SHERPAO, Pakistan - A suicide attacker detonated a bomb packed with ball bearings and nails amid hundreds of worshippers Friday at the residential compound of a former top security official for President Pervez Musharraf, killing at least 50 people, authorities said.It was the second suicide attack in eight months apparently targeting former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, who escaped injury. One of his sons was wounded.Suspicion will likely focus on the pro-Taliban or al-Qaida militants active in the northwestern region of the country where the attack occurred. The attack also deepened the sense of uncertainty in Pakistan as it heads into Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.Sherpao, a candidate for parliament, left office last month as a caretaker government took over ahead of the elections.Hours after the bombing, security officers raided an Islamic school in the nearby village of Turangzai and arrested seven students, some of them Afghans, two police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The officials declined to say whether the raid was connected to the attack.The bombing, which came during the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha, left a scene of carnage at the mosque at the politician's residential compound in Sherpao, a village 25 miles northeast of the city of Peshawar.Bloodied clothes, hats, shoes and pieces of flesh were strewn about the building. Witnesses said the dead included police officers guarding Sherpao, who was praying in the mosque's front row at the time but not injured."We were saying prayers when this huge explosion occurred," said Shaukat Ali, a 26-year-old survivor of the blast whose white cloak and pants were torn and spattered with blood.[[[[[[The bomber was praying in a row of worshippers when he detonated the explosive,]]]]]] provincial police chief Sharif Virk said. Hundreds of people were in or around the mosque, about 40 yards from Sherpao's house, witnesses said.District mayor Farman Ali Khan said between 50 and 55 people were killed, and authorities were collecting information on their identities. Local police chief Feroz Shah said over 100 were wounded.The hospital in Peshawar was wracked with chaos as the injured arrived in pickup trucks, ambulance sirens wailed and the wounded screamed for help.[[[[[[The bomb contained between 13-17 pounds of explosives and was filled with nails and ball bearings to maximize casualties, ]]]]]]said the head of the bomb unit at the scene, who declined to give his name.A bulldozer was brought in to dig graves for the dead next to the mosque. Other volunteers used shovels.[[[Iqbal Hussain, a police officer in charge of security at the mosque, said all those who entered had been made to pass through a body scanner and were searched with metal and explosive detectors.Hamid Nawaz, the current interior minister, maintained there was no security lapse."All possible care had been taken, there was no lapse as such ... but such an incident can happen at such a gathering,"]]] Nawaz said on Aaj TV.After the blast, Sherpao's house was protected by about a dozen armed police and paramilitary troops. In a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press, Sherpao said he was unhurt."Yes, I'm fine," he said.In April, Sherpao was slightly wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a rally for his political party in the nearby town of Charsadda, killing at least 28 people...
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PS:Isn't it horrible that this bomber pretended to be praying along with the victims...???probably the deceived,thought that he was going to be sent straight to muslim heaven where 72 virgins were expecting him.....!!!!!!!!!!What a lie from the devil....this deceived man is now wailing and suffering the unspeakable in hell with many other millions.....!!!!!
Nails and barrings....to inflict the most pain....!!!!
Is this the true RELIGION of PEACE...?????
As in the days of Noah....