At least 25 people have been killed in a suicide bombing claimed by a Taliban splinter group at a mosque in Pakistan.

The blast struck as Muslims gathered for Friday prayers in the village of Payee Khan in Mohmand Agency district.

“The suicide bomber was in crowded mosque, he shouted 'Allahu Akbar', and then there was a huge blast,” Naveed Akbar, deputy administrator of the region, told Reuters.

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Officials said at least 25 people were killed and 30 injured and there were fears the death toll could rise as rescue operations continued.

Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, with local tribal elder Haji Subhanullah Mohmand suggesting it may have been revenge for the killing of a militant by tribal volunteers.

“It seems to have enraged the militants and they got their revenge by carrying out a suicide attack in a mosque today,” he said.

Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, condemned the bombing and said “attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country.”

The military says security is improving, with recorded “terrorist incidents” dropping from 128 in 2013 to 74 last year - but Islamist extremists continue to stage major attacks.

Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Pakistan hospital attack Show all 10 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Pakistan hospital attack 1/10 A man reacts after his relative was killed in a bomb blast in restive Quetta EPA 2/10 Residents light candles to honour victims of the blast in Quetta during a candellight vigil in Peshawar Reuters 3/10 People carry the coffin of a victim of suicide bomb attack at a hospital for burial in Quetta REUTERS 4/10 Pakistani victims injured in a suicide bombing are treated at a hospital in Quetta AFP/Getty Images 5/10 A lawyer who was injured in a bomb blast wait to receive medical treatment in restive Quetta EPA 6/10 A doctor treats an injured lawyer at the scene of a bomb blast in restive Quetta EPA 7/10 People comfort a man mourning the death of a family member who was killed in suicide bombing, at a funeral in Quetta AP 8/10 People transfer an injured man from the blast site in Quetta Rex Features 9/10 Pakistani security officials and lawyers gather around the bodies of victims killed in a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta AFP/Getty Images 10/10 The scene following a bomb blast outside a hospital in Quetta Naseer Ahmed/Reuters 1/10 A man reacts after his relative was killed in a bomb blast in restive Quetta EPA 2/10 Residents light candles to honour victims of the blast in Quetta during a candellight vigil in Peshawar Reuters 3/10 People carry the coffin of a victim of suicide bomb attack at a hospital for burial in Quetta REUTERS 4/10 Pakistani victims injured in a suicide bombing are treated at a hospital in Quetta AFP/Getty Images 5/10 A lawyer who was injured in a bomb blast wait to receive medical treatment in restive Quetta EPA 6/10 A doctor treats an injured lawyer at the scene of a bomb blast in restive Quetta EPA 7/10 People comfort a man mourning the death of a family member who was killed in suicide bombing, at a funeral in Quetta AP 8/10 People transfer an injured man from the blast site in Quetta Rex Features 9/10 Pakistani security officials and lawyers gather around the bodies of victims killed in a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta AFP/Getty Images 10/10 The scene following a bomb blast outside a hospital in Quetta Naseer Ahmed/Reuters

Friday's bombing came a day after a woman was killed by a grenade in Lower Mohmand Agency when militants attacked a pro-government tribal elder's home.

Mohmand lies in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

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Largely deeply conservative, the territory is remote and hard to access, providing sanctuary for extremist fighters targeted in decades of military operations and drone strikes.

Tehrik-i-Taliban (Pakistani Taliban) militants are waging an Islamist insurgency in the area and have launched a series of bombing attacks and assaults on security services.

Its Jamaat ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for a bombing targeting lawyers that killed 74 people in the city of Quetta last month, as well as the the Easter Sunday blasts in Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them children.

Al-Qaeda fighters are also present in Pakistan, while Isis has recently bene seeking to increase its presence in the country and neighbouring Afghanistan, where it has founded an affiliate called Khorasan Province.</s>KHAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani official says the death toll from a suicide bombing at a mosque has risen to 36 after several of those wounded in the attack died in hospitals.

Pashin Gul, the head of the tribal police in the northwestern Mohmand region, provided the updated toll on Saturday, a day after the bombing. Several children were among those killed and wounded in the attack, which targeted weekly Friday prayers.

The initial toll provided by officials was 24 dead and 28 wounded. Some 200 worshippers were inside the mosque when the bomber struck.

A breakaway Taliban faction knows as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it targeted members of a pro-government militia.</s>The death toll from a deadly suicide attack in north-western Pakistan has climbed to at least 28 as another 30 have been wounded, according to the local government officials.

The incident took place on Friday afternoon as scores of people had gathered in a mosque for Friday prayers in a remote village in the Mohmand Agency, north of Peshawar.

According to the political administration sources the explosion took place when people were returning home from the mosque after Friday prayers.

However, a senior tribal administration official told AFP news agency: “The Friday prayer was in progress at the mosque when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the main room.”

A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, has reportedly carried out the attack which apparently targeted elders from a government-sponsored anti-Taliban militia.

The tribal areas of Pakistan have been subject to recent attacks both by the Pakistani Taliban and the loyalists of the Islamic State.

The violence sporadically continue in the area despite the Pakistani military began operations there in 2014 to reduce the strength of the Taliban.

Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS</s>Jamaat-ul-Ahra, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the bombing that also injured 34 people, according to the group's spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.

The attack took place at one of the biggest mosques in Mohmand Agency, a district in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas north of Peshawar, said Naveed Akbar, assistant administrator for the agency.

Two children under the age of 10 were killed in the blast while four children under the age of 10 are among the injured, Akbar said.

The official said the suicide bomber detonated his device inside the packed hall of the mosque, which has a capacity of 100 to 150 people.

Screams could be heard after the blast, and body parts were found scattered around the mosque, Akhbar said. He said the death toll is likely to grow. "The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country," he said. Jamaat-ul-Ahra has carried out several major attacks in Pakistan this year, including a bombing on August 8 that targeted lawyers and journalists and killed more than 72 people.</s>At least 25 people have been killed in a suicide bombing claimed by a Taliban splinter group at a mosque in Pakistan.

The blast struck as Muslims gathered for Friday prayers in the village of Payee Khan in Mohmand Agency district.

“The suicide bomber was in crowded mosque, he shouted 'Allahu Akbar', and then there was a huge blast,” Naveed Akbar, deputy administrator of the region, told Reuters.

Officials said at least 25 people were killed and 30 injured and there were fears the death toll could rise as rescue operations continued.

Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, with local tribal elder Haji Subhanullah Mohmand suggesting it may have been revenge for the killing of a militant by tribal volunteers.

“It seems to have enraged the militants and they got their revenge by carrying out a suicide attack in a mosque today,” he said.

Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, condemned the bombing and said “attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country.”

The military says security is improving, with recorded “terrorist incidents” dropping from 128 in 2013 to 74 last year - but Islamist extremists continue to stage major attacks.

Friday's bombing came a day after a woman was killed by a grenade in Lower Mohmand Agency when militants attacked a pro-government tribal elder's home.

Largely deeply conservative, the territory is remote and hard to access, providing sanctuary for extremist fighters targeted in decades of military operations and drone strikes.

Tehrik-i-Taliban (Pakistani Taliban) militants are waging an Islamist insurgency in the area and have launched a series of bombing attacks and assaults on security services.

Its Jamaat ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for a bombing targeting lawyers that killed 74 people in the city of Quetta last month, as well as the the Easter Sunday blasts in Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them children.

Al-Qaeda fighters are also present in Pakistan, while Isis has recently bene seeking to increase its presence in the country and neighbouring Afghanistan, where it has founded an affiliate called Khorasan Province.</s>KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says the death toll from a suicide bombing at a mosque has risen to 36 after several of those wounded in the attack died in hospitals.

Pashin Gul, the head of the tribal police in the northwestern Mohmand region, provided the updated toll on Saturday, a day after the bombing. Several children were among those killed and wounded in the attack, which targeted weekly Friday prayers.

The initial toll provided by officials was 24 dead and 28 wounded. Some 200 worshippers were inside the mosque when the bomber struck.

A Pakistani child who was injured in a suicide bombing is treated at a local hospital in Khar, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. A suicide bomber attacked a Sunni mosque in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing dozens of worshippers and wounding many others, officials said. Several children were also among those killed or wounded in the deadly attack. (AP Photo/Anwarullah Khan)

A breakaway Taliban faction knows as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it targeted members of a pro-government militia.</s>No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Payee Khan, a village in Mohmand Agency that is part of the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.

"The suicide bomber was in a crowded mosque, he shouted 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) and then there was a huge blast," Naveed Akbar, deputy administrator of Mohmand Agency, told Reuters.

Akbar added that some fatalities appear to have been caused when part of the mosque caved in from the force of the blast.

"A portion of the mosque and verandah collapsed in the blast and fell on worshippers. We are still retrieving bodies and the injured from the rubble of the mosque," he said.

Local tribal elder Haji Subhanullah Mohmand said the attack may have been carried out by Islamist militants seeking revenge after local tribesmen gathered a volunteer force and killed one and captured another insurgent.

"It seems to have enraged the militants and they got their revenge by carrying out a suicide attack in a mosque today," Mohmand said.

Pakistan's frontier regions, which are deeply conservative and hard to access due to rough terrain, have long been the sanctuary of fighters from al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups.

In 2014 the army launched a major operation in other parts of FATA including North and South Waziristan against insurgents who routinely attacked government officials and civilians.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the bombing and said the "attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country."

Security in Pakistan has improved in recent years - the military says "terrorist incidents" dropped from 128 in 2013 to 74 last year - but Islamist extremists continue to stage major attacks.

A bombing of lawyers in the city of Quetta killed 74 people last month, an attack claimed by both the Islamic State and Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar also claimed the Easter Sunday bombing in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them children.

Most of the myriad militant groups that stage attacks inside Pakistan seek to overthrow the government to establish an Islamic theocracy and impose a stricter interpretation of the religion than is practiced in much of the country.

Other armed groups based in the country target neighboring Afghanistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir.</s>At least 25 people are dead in northwestern Pakistan, after a suicide bomber shouted "Allahu akbar" and blew himself up in a packed mosque, a local official says.

At least 30 other people were wounded in the attack during Friday (Saturday NZ Time) prayers.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Payee Khan, a village in Mohmand Agency that is part of the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.

"The suicide bomber was in a crowded mosque, he shouted 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) and then there was a huge blast," Naveed Akbar, deputy administrator of Mohmand Agency, told Reuters.

Akbar added that some fatalities appear to have been caused when part of the mosque caved in from the force of the blast.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the bombing and said the "attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country".

Local tribal elder Haji Subhanullah Mohmand said the attack may have been carried out by Islamist militants seeking revenge after local tribesmen gathered a volunteer force and killed one and captured another insurgent.

Pakistan's frontier regions, which are deeply conservative and hard to access due to rough terrain, have long been the sanctuary of fighters from al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups.

In 2014 the army launched a major operation in other parts of FATA including North and South Waziristan against insurgents who routinely attacked government officials and civilians.

Security in Pakistan has improved in recent years - the military says "terrorist incidents" dropped from 128 in 2013 to 74 last year - but Islamist extremists continue to stage major attacks.

A bombing of lawyers in the city of Quetta killed 74 people last month, an attack claimed by both the Islamic State and Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar also claimed the Easter Sunday bombing in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them children.</s>Khar, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber attacked a Sunni mosque in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 24 worshippers and wounding 28 others, officials said. Several children were also among those killed or wounded in the deadly attack.

A breakaway Taliban group later claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The attacker shouted “God is Great” as he entered the mosque in the village of Ambar in Pakistan’s Mohmand tribal region, government administrator Naveed Akbar told The Associated Press. He said rescuers had transported the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals, where some of the wounded were listed in critical condition.

Akbar said about 200 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of attack.

Pashin Gul, the head of local tribal police, confirmed that it was a suicide attack. He said the bombing took place during Friday prayers, adding that several of the wounded were in a critical condition.

Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar — the breakaway Taliban faction — claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to media. He claimed the attacker targeted members of a pro-government militia.

The White House in a statement Friday condemned the attack, saying it is an “appalling reminder that terrorism threatens all countries in the region” and said the U.S. would continue to work with the Pakistani government to fight terrorism.

Saeed Khan, in charge of the hospital in the town of Khar, said an army helicopter was being used to transport the critically wounded to Peshawar, the main city in northwestern Pakistan.

One of the wounded, 41-year-old Ghulam Khan, 41, said he heard a deafening explosion during the prayers and then he fell down. “I cried for help, but no one came to me … there were other bodies … wounded worshippers, who were reciting verses from Quran and waiting for help,” he told The Associated Press from his hospital bed.

Khan said local residents and tribal police helped ferry the wounded to hospital.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, which targeted a Sunni mosque. Previous such large-scale attacks have usually targeted Shiite mosques.

The country has witnessed several large-scale militant attacks this year, claimed by an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan issued a statement, condemning the attack.

Pakistan’s tribal regions, which border Afghanistan, were considered to be strongholds of Pakistani Taliban militants until 2014, when the military launched a major operation there, evicting and killing large numbers of insurgents. However, violence has continued in some of the tribal regions.

Friday’s attack came hours after army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss security issues. According to a government statement, Sharif pledged to continue the war against terrorism.

The military says some 18,000 civilians and 5,000 soldiers have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when Islamabad threw its support behind Washington in the war on terror.</s>A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others as they attended Friday prayers at a mosque in a northwestern Pakistani tribal area, officials said.

The bombing took place in the village of Butmaina in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting against Taliban militants.

"The Friday prayer was in progress at the mosque when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the main room killing at least 16 worshippers and wounding 35 others," a senior tribal administration official told AFP.

"The area is remote and so far I have received only this information from our sources via wireless," he said, adding a curfew had since been imposed.

Another local government official confirmed the information.

The assault was later condemned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose office released a statement that said: "The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban routinely attack soft targets such as courts, schools and mosques.

On September 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan in an assault targeting Pakistan's legal community that was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Taliban faction.

The group has also said it was behind an attack on lawyers in southwest Quetta, which killed 73 people on August 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 in Pakistan's deadliest attack this year.

Pakistan's deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children.

The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.

Security in the country has since improved. Scattered attacks still take place, but they are fewer and of a lesser intensity than in previous years.

According to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 457 civilians and 182 security forces were killed in Pakistan from January 1 to September 11, putting 2016 on course for fewer casualties than 2015.

Last year, the country recorded its lowest number of killings since 2007, when the Pakistani Taliban was formed.
A suicide bombing at a mosque in Mohmand Agency kills at least 28 people and injures 31 others. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claims the responsibility.