At least 27 killed in a bombing at a mosque in Pakistan

At least 27 people have died in an attack off of Friday prayers at a mosque in the town of Hangu in northwest Pakistan, according to a police source. The attack, by a device located at the gate of the temple took place in the central area of Patt Bazar at 14:00 local time (09:00 GMT), as worshipers were leaving the traditional Friday prayers , holy day Muslims. The explosion injured at least fifty people , according to Nasir Ali, an official of the local police headquarters. "Seven or eight of the injured were in critical condition," he said. The attack occurred on a street that houses a Shiite mosque and a Sunni. Officials said the anti-Taliban Supreme Council sometimes held there and that could be the target of the attack. But the district police chief, Muhammad Saeed, said he was directed against the Shiites and Sunnis were also victims, Reuters collects. Hangu is located in the district of Kohat and is very close to the Orakzai tribal region, which together with other neighboring areas has undergone a major escalation of violence in the last week. An Air Force bombing, the second this week, ended yesterday with the lives of eight suspected insurgents who join another hundred who have died since last weekend in the areas of Orakzai and Khyber , the scene of heavy fighting. The actions of the Army have joined intense fighting between threeinsurgent groups vying for control of the Tirah Valley , a strategic because it provides access to both Afghanistan and Taliban strongholds further south.