Several killed in a blast in Pakistan's Peshawar

The blast occurred at the Speen Jamaat mosque, which also serves as a religious school for the local community in the city’s Dir Colony area, at 8:30am local time (3:30 GMT) on Tuesday, a police official told Al Jazeera shortly after the blast.

“[Students] were reading the Quran here, that is when the explosion occurred,” Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ali Khan told reporters near the scene.

“The initial investigation shows […] that five to six kilograms [11-13 pounds] of explosive material was used [and] that someone came here and left a bag of explosives.”

It was not immediately clear how many children were among those killed or wounded, as the students gathered at the school included many who were adults.

Television footage from the scene of the blast showed significant damage to the interior of the mosque’s main prayer hall, with pockmarks dotting the ceiling and debris strewn across the floor.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility following the attack.

MR/PR