Death toll from Pakistan mosque bombing rises to 36

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”.

In a statement issued by the Department of State, the spokesperson said that the attack against civilians at a mosque during Friday prayers was an appalling reminder that terrorism threatens all countries in the region.

Some residents and relatives of the slain people said that most of the injured succumbed to their injuries when they were being taken to hospital in Bajaur Agency.

The initial toll provided by officials was 24 dead and 28 wounded.

Eyewitnesses said a portion of the mosque and its verandah collapsed under the impact of the blast.

Mohmand Agency is one of Pakistan’s seven tribal districts near the Afghan border, where armed forces have waged a war against militants for over a decade.

A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ur-Ahrar (TTP-JA), claimed responsibility for the attack.

The report said that at least 16 others were also injured in this blast and a number of them are still in the critical condition.

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 the country’s deadliest attack this year.

Deputy administrator of the region, Naveed Akbar, said the incident arised as long as a suicide bomber entered the mosque and exploded his vest, targeting at the people who were offering Friday prayer in Paye Khan village in Anbar area of Mohmand Agency, Pakistan’s northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the bombing, saying the government would remain steadfast in its fight against extremists.

As a result security in the country has since improved.

The blast that left 31 injured took place in a mosque.

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