Pakistan: Days after train hijack, blast in South Waziristan, was TTP behind mayhem? Details here

A blast tore through a mosque on Friday in northwestern Pakistan, police said, injuring an Islamist party leader and three others, including children.

Abdullah Nadeem, a local leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party, was believed to be the target of the blast and had been hospitalised with serious injuries, said Asif Bahadar, a district police chief in South Waziristan. 

He said two children were among the injured.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion.

Attacks have been escalating in Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan in recent months.

Last month, a suicide bomber killed six worshippers during Friday prayers at an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan, known as a historic training ground for the Afghan Taliban.

This week in southwestern Balochistan, separatist militants hijacked a train and held passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security forces.

Pakistan has vowed to crack down on growing militancy and has said the militants are finding haven in neighbouring Afghanistan, a charge the ruling Afghan Taliban deny.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from Reuters)