Peshawar: A powerful bomb blast ripped through an Islamic seminary on the outskirts of the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday morning, killing at least eight children and wounding 136 others, police and a hospital spokesman said.
The bombing happened while a cleric was delivering a lecture about the teachings of Islam at the main hall of the Jamia Zubairia madrassa, said police officer Waqar Azim.
He said initial investigations suggest the bomb went off minutes after someone left a bag at the madrassa.
Read: At least 5 killed, 20 injured as explosion rocks Pakistan's Karachi
Several of the wounded were in critical condition, and hospital authorities feared the death toll could climb further.
Peshawar is the provincial capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
The province has been the scene of such militant attacks in recent years, but sectarian violence has also killed or wounded people at mosques or seminaries across Pakistan.
The latest attack comes two days after a bombing in the southwestern city of Quetta killed three people.
Earlier on October 21, 5 people were killed and 20 others were injured in an explosion in Karachi's Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
The explosion took place at a four-storey building opposite the Karachi University Maskan gate.
The impact of the explosion left windowpanes of the nearby building shattered. Eyewitnesses reported that some vehicles near the building were also damaged.
(With inputs from AP)
