Bomb kills 40 in Pakistan mosque

A suicide bomber killed around 40 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan yesterday, as US special envoy Richard Holbrooke consulted the country's leaders on what needs to be done once the army eliminates the Taliban in Swat valley.

"The death toll is 40. We have no idea as yet how many have been wounded," said Atif-ur-Rehman, the senior-most government administrator in the Upper Dir district, close to Swat Valley, where the army has been conducting a major offensive against the Taliban.

Umer Rehman, a resident of Hayagai village, around 200 kilometres northwest of Islamabad, said the bomber struck as worshippers poured out of the mosque after Friday prayers. He said 12 of the 38 bodies identified by police were children.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said such incidents would not "deter the government from its resolve to eliminate this scourge (of terrorism) from the country".

The military says more than 1,200 militants and 90 soldiers have been killed since the army swung into action in late April, while the militants have carried out bomb attacks in Lahore, and the northwestern cities of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan.