Islamabad, Pakistan: The blast outside a mosque here was caused by a suicide attacker who detonated himself at the gate of a building in Pakistan’s capital on Friday, a security source told AFP.

According to the latest reports, at least 15 people were killed in the incident. “The attacker was stopped at the gate and detonated himself,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, expressing “deep grief” and saying he “strongly condemns” the blast, according to an official statement. At least 80 people were wounded in the explosion, it added.

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Local media reported that a huge blast occurred near an imambargah in Islamabad’s Tarlai area, initially putting the death toll at 10. The injured were shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), with further details awaited.

In a post on X, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon said that more than 80 people were injured in the blast, while 15 bodies were shifted to different hospitals.

Police and Rescue 1122 personnel reached the site of the incident and initiated rescue operations.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.

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However, police sources said that the attacker was a foreign national and had links with Fitna al Khwaraji, a term used for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The army troops and Rangers have cordoned off the area, and security operations are underway in and around the site of the blast. An emergency was declared in the hospitals of the capital to deal with the situation, as the injured were being shifted to hospitals.

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The attack comes days after Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan was hit by a series of deadly assaults claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which left 36 civilians, including women and children, and 22 security personnel dead.

The BLA has said its operation, titled “Operation Herof II,” has entered its sixth consecutive day, rejecting statements from Pakistan’s military media wing as propaganda.