Pakistan mosque bomber kills 30

A suicide bomber has killed at least 30 people in an attack on a mosque in Pakistan.Former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao was offering Muslim Eid festival prayers with worshippers when the blast happened.Mr Sherpao said he escaped unharmed but his son was amomg the dozens injured in the explosion at Charsadda district in North West Frontier Province.Witnesses said the suspected bomber was sitting in a middle row among the worshippers and detonated his device as prayers ended and people gathered around the politician to greet him.Mr Sherpao had been injured in April in another suicide attack at a public meeting in Charsadda.There have been a rash of suicide bombings blamed on Islamist militants since a military assault on the Red Mosque, a militant stronghold, in Islamabad in July.More than 800 people have been killed in the ensuing violence across the country, with about half of them killed in suicide attacks.President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, cited growing militancy as a main reason behind his imposition of emergency rule last month.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | December 21, 2007

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