Islamic State group claims deadly suicide bombing at Islamabad Shiite mosque

The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Pakistan's capital Islamabad that killed at least 31 people and wounded scores more during Friday prayers.

Read moreSuicide bombing at Islamabad Shiite mosque kills at least 31 people

Funerals will take place on Saturday for some of the victims.

The blast was the deadliest in Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott hotel bombing.

City officials said 31 people died and another 169 were wounded in the explosion at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque on the city's outskirts. The death toll was expected to rise.

The blast occurred during Friday prayers, when mosques are packed with worshippers.

'Casualties expected to rise' in Pakistan after deadly mosque suicide attack

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"The attacker was stopped at the gate and detonated himself," a security source said.

Muhammad Kazim, 52, said an "extremely powerful" explosion ripped through the building as prayers were just starting.

Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, said there was a gunfight between the bomber and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.

"The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh," he said.

He then "detonated the explosives", Mahmood added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that those behind the blast would be found and brought to justice.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar branded the attack "a heinous crime against humanity and a blatant violation of Islamic principles".

Sectarian violence

The Sunni Muslim Islamic State group emerged in Iraq and Syria and quickly created a "caliphate", declaring its rule over all Muslims and largely displacing al Qaeda.

After being ousted ​from its bases in the Syrian city of Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, the group took refuge in the hinterlands of the two fractured countries.

It retains a significant presence in Syria and Iraq, parts of Africa including the Sahel region, and in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But the group has adopted new tactics since the collapse of its forces and a string of other setbacks in the Middle East.

While IS militants operating across several regions share an ideology, there are no signs that they exchange weapons or financing.

The Islamabad bombing comes as Pakistan's security forces battle intensifying insurgencies in southern and northern provinces that border Afghanistan.

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Pakistan is a Sunni-majority nation, but Shiites make up between 10 and 15 percent of the population and have been targeted in attacks throughout the region in the past.

The last major attack in Islamabad took place in November when a suicide blast outside a court killed 12 people and wounded dozens, the first such incident to hit the capital in nearly three years.

In Balochistan, attacks claimed by separatist insurgents last week killed 36 civilians and 22 security personnel, prompting a wave of counter-operations in which authorities said security forces killed almost 200 militants.

Friday's attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)