At least 27 people were killed in a suspected attack on a mosque in Pakistan on Monday. A police spokesman also reported to the German Press Agency that more than 140 people were injured. Several of them were taken to hospitals in critical condition.

The explosion happened during midday prayers in the major city of Peshawar in the north-west of the country in a high-security zone. There are many police buildings in the area.

Authorities assume a suicide attack. At first no one acknowledged it. At the end of last year, however, the Pakistani Taliban - which operate independently of the Islamist Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan - canceled a ceasefire with the government in Islamabad. Since then, they have claimed responsibility for several attacks.

In Pakistan, the vast majority of the population of more than 230 million people is Muslim. About two million people live in the city of Peshawar.