Rescue workers and volunteers remove a body from the site of a powerful bomb explosion at a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, March 4, 2022. (MUHAMMAD SAJJAD / AP)

ISLAMABAD – A suicide bombing at a mosque during Friday prayers in Pakistani city of Peshawar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed at least 50 people, police and hospital officials said. 

Muhammad Asim, a spokesperson for the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar where all the injured have been shifted, told Xinhua that the death toll rose after 20 injured people succumbed to their injuries

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Some 50 to 60 injured people are being treated at the hospital, he said, adding that 10 to 15 people are in critical condition. 

Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the deadly attack on the mosque and ordered immediate medical aid for the wounded.

A state of emergency has been declared and more medical personnel have been called to the hospital for the treatment of the injured, said Asim. 

Haroon Rasheed, senior superintendent of police operations of Peshawar, told Xinhua that two terrorists tried to enter the mosque and engaged in an exchange of fire with the police personnel on duty there, resulting in the death of one policeman. Another police officer was seriously injured before the huge explosion occurred. 

Following a preliminary investigation, the official said it was a suicide bombing targeting civilians. 

Eyewitness Mushtaq Khan told Xinhua that a large number of worshippers were present in a two-floor building of the mosque when the blast happened during prayers. 

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"Following the blast, there were bodies strewn all over the place and people were crying for help ... It was the most massive explosion that I have ever seen in my life," Khan said. 

An injured man is taken from the site of bomb explosion at a Shi’ite mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, March 4, 2022. (MUHAMMAD SAJJAD / AP) 

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the deadly attack on the mosque and ordered immediate medical aid for the wounded. 

The prime minister also urged a detailed report on the blast from related departments.  

No group or individual has claimed the attack.