Friday prayers blast kills 40 in Pakistan

A deadly explosion has struck Friday prayers at a mosque in northwest Pakistan, leaving some 40 people killed, and many others wounded. "Around 40 people are killed…we have no idea as yet how many have been wounded," Reuters quoted government officials in Upper Dir. The explosion site in the northwestern area is close to Swat valley, where the Pakistani military forces have been engaged in a huge offensive against pro-Taliban militants since last month. The incident is the latest in a fresh spate of violence in the country with insurgents threatening to launch more attacks, already numbering to nine since the start of the military campaign to destroy militant havens in Swat. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Friday blast. Dir's bombing, which the police described as a suicide attack took more lives than last Wednesday's explosion in Lahore. The Lahore blast killed almost 30 people and injured 300 as it flattened a police building and ripped through an intelligence office in the eastern city. A day later, two simultaneous explosions in Qisa Khwani and Kabari Bazar in Peshawar followed by two separate ones outside the capital of the North Western Frontier Province city, leaving at least 14 people killed and more than 100 others injured. On March 27, a gunman blew himself up in a mosque packed with worshippers in Jamrud, also in northwest Pakistan, killing about 50 people.