Islamabad (Pakistan):  A massive bombing ripped through a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Pakistan 's capital during Friday prayers, killing 31 people and wounding at least 169 others, police said.

Islamabad police said the blast at the sprawling mosque was an attack and that an investigation was underway. Rescuers and witnesses said some of the wounded were listed as being in critical condition. Television footage and social media images showed police and residents transporting the injured to nearby hospitals.

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No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but suspicion is likely to fall on militants such as the Pakistani Taliban or the Islamic State group, which has been blamed for previous attacks on Shiite worshippers, a minority in the country. Militants often target security forces and civilians across Pakistan.

Though attacks are not so frequent in Islamabad, Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months, largely blamed on Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is a separate group, but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group has also been active in the country.

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Hospitals across the federal capital were placed on high alert following the incident, with Polyclinic, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), and CDA Hospital enforcing emergency protocols. A PIMS spokesperson told Dawn that the hospital’s executive director had ordered a full emergency, activating the main emergency ward as well as orthopaedic, burn, and neurology departments.

Ambulances transported the injured to PIMS and Polyclinic as rescue efforts continued throughout the afternoon. The blast has killed 12 people and wounded 20 others, a police source told AFP.

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"An explosion occurred after Friday prayers in a Shiite mosque," the senior police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Friday’s bombing comes less than three months after a suicide attack outside the district and sessions court in Islamabad’s G-11 sector on 11 November 2025, which left 12 people dead and more than 30 others wounded.

The latest blast also follows a series of deadly assaults in Balochistan earlier this week, claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Those attacks killed 36 civilians, including women and children, and 22 members of security and law enforcement agencies.

Police have cordoned off the Tarlai area as investigations are underway. 

(This is a developing story)