By Ibrahim Shinwari
LANDI KOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 48 people when he blew himself up in a crowded Pakistani mosque near the Afghan border on Friday, government officials said.
The attack came hours before U.S. President Barack Obama was scheduled to announce a new strategy for the Afghan war, an approach U.S. officials said would also recognise Pakistan as a key part of the conflict. [nN26525038]
Police, paramilitary forces and government officials were among the congregation in the mosque near Jamrud town, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Afghan border. The bomber set off his explosives as a cleric began prayers, an official said.
"So far we have counted 48 bodies," Tariq Hayat Khan, the top administrator in the Khyber region in the northwest of the country, told reporters, adding the toll could rise.
Between 250 and 300 people were in the mosque and about 70 wounded had been taken to hospitals, he said.
"It was a suicide attack. The bomber was standing in the mosque. It's a two-storey building and it has collapsed," he said.
Police initially said a bomb blew up at a police post next to the mosque.
Worshippers searched through piles of bricks, pulling out bodies and carrying them to ambulances in sheets and on rope beds, television pictures showed.
There was no claim of responsibility but Islamist militants opposed to the government's support for the United States have mounted a violent campaign against the security forces and others.
Militants had earlier threatened to blow up the police post next to the mosque, residents of the area said.
"It's surprising, those who claim that they are doing jihad and then carry out suicide attacks inside mosques during Friday prayers," Khan told Geo TV.
"They are infidels. They are enemies of Pakistan. They are enemies of Islam," he said.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel, Editing by Dean Yates)