10 killed as militants storm mosque in Pakistan

At least ten people were killed on Friday in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in a series of explosions targeting a Shia mosque, police said.

The mosque was targeted in Hayatabad area of Peshawar, capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Radical Sunni Islamist groups often target mosques frequented by minority Shia, whom they see as infidels.

Police said a group of armed men broke into the mosque, where people were attending Friday prayers, and opened fire, following which three explosions were heard inside the building.

“Police have been called and an operation has started against the terrorists,” said Mian Saeed, police chief of the northwestern city of Peshawar.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Ten dead bodies and 40 wounded people have been brought to Hayatabad Medical Complex,” said a doctor, Mumtaz Marwat.

Last month dozens of people were killed in a similar attack on a Shi’ite mosque in the southern city of Shikarpur.