UN Secretary-General António Guterres “condemns in the strongest terms” this Friday’s (6) attack on a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, a United Nations spokesperson said in a statement.
A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and injured nearly 170 Shi’ite Muslim women in the nation’s capital, police and government officials said.
Images from the scene showed bloodied bodies lying on the floor of the mosque, surrounded by broken glass, debris and panicked worshipers.
Dozens of other injured people lay in the gardens of Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah, in a semi-urban area on the outskirts of Islamabad, as people called for help.
Later, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on the mosque.
Bomb attacks are rare in the heavily guarded capital, although Pakistan has been hit by a rising wave of militancy in recent years.
