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At least 16 people were killed, including five police officers, and more than 50 were injured in a suicide attack with a car bomb targeting a mosque gate during Friday prayers, near a police station in northwest Pakistan.
Pakistani channel "Geo News" quoted security sources as saying that an explosion occurred in a mosque within a compound belonging to the Security Directorate in the Kohat region of the province, the circumstances of which are not yet clear.
The sources added that security reinforcements were sent to the area and search and rescue operations are still ongoing.
Local police said in a statement carried by news agencies: "The attack began when a vehicle loaded with explosives hit the gate of the old police headquarters in Kohat and exploded, followed by gunfire, before another suicide bomber blew himself up near a building belonging to the Special Branch of the Police".
The explosion caused severe damage to the exterior of a nearby mosque and the collapse of one of its walls, and neighboring buildings were also damaged due to the intensity of the blast.
Medical sources confirmed that the death toll is likely to rise as many of the injured are in critical condition.
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