At least one dead as bomb explodes at mosque in Pakistan

At least one person has been killed and more than 14 wounded after an explosion at a mosque in the western Pakistani city of Quetta.

The explosion took place inside a mosque ahead of Friday prayers, city police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

“There were about 100 people there when a bomb exploded very close to the prayer leader,” said police officer Abdul Qayum.

There was no claim of responsibility.

The area was cordoned off by security forces shortly after the explosion, and a bomb disposal unit was conducting investigations, Cheema said.

Video footage from the scene showed debris from the blast strewn within the mosque, with ceiling tiles lying smashed on the floor.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and least populated province that is also rich in mineral and fuel resources.

It has seen regular violence in recent years, with attacks claimed by Baloch separatists, Pakistan Taliban and local affiliates of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

The province has been at the centre of a series of recent attacks that have killed at least 10 people.

Last week, at least four policemen were killed when their vehicles were targeted by an explosion as they stood guard outside a mosque during evening prayers.

On May 12, Baloch separatist gunmen stormed a five-star hotel in the southern port city of Gwadar, killing at least five people, including a Navy soldier.

Pakistani security forces engaged in an hours-long gun battle with the attackers, with the siege ending after three attackers were killed.

Balochistan is seeing a number of new infrastructure projects erected, including the port at Gwadar, as part of the $60bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, a joint venture between the Pakistani and Chinese governments.