By- Rishabh Jain

A suspected suicide attack on a Shia mosque after Friday prayers injured more than 50 people, according to reports. The explosion shattered windows in surrounding buildings. Locals have been using their motorcycles and cars to rescue the dead and injured.

Some of the injured have been described as critical. The incident has yet to be assigned a cause. Thousands of people have been slain in Pakistan's sectarian conflict in recent years, the majority of them are Shia Muslims.

According to the AFP news agency, one witness, Zahid Khan, asseverated "Before he entered the mosque, he observed a man firing at two police officers. A few seconds later he heard a loud blast "

Waheed Khan, a local police official, said the explosion took place as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers at the Kucha Risaldar mosque in Peshawar's old city. Ambulances hurried through the tight streets, transporting the injured to Lady Reading Hospital, where doctors laboured furiously.

The emergency department at Lady Reading Hospital was a nightmare as doctors struggled to get injured into operation rooms. Hundreds of relatives gathered outside the emergency room, many of them sobbing and beating their chests as they pleaded for information about their loved ones.

The Kucha Risaldar Mosque is one of the area's oldest mosques, dating back to when Pakistan was established in 1947 as a distinct country for Muslims of the Indian subcontinent.