through the building just after prayers started. Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) 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 told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment. "And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred," he said. Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment. "It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties," Kazim said.

"Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered," he added. "When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives." The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications. Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque. "The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh," Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP. (Bssnews)