31 killed in Pakistan mosque suicide blast: ‘extremely powerful explosion’

A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Pakistan’s Islamabad, where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday, described an “extremely powerful” explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.Muhammad Kazim, 52, said he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1pm on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the imam.“During the first bow of the namaz [prayer ritual], we heard gunfire,” he said outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred.”Relatives of victims who were injured after a deadly explosion at a Shiite Muslim mosque wait at the hospital in Islamabad on Friday. Photo: ReutersKazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the hospital for treatment.