By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, (AA): At least 30 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew up himself in a mosque in northwestern Anbar Tehsil of Mohmand Agency. tribal area, according to a local official Friday.

Thirty others were injured when the bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest during Friday prayers, Mahmood Aslam, an administrative official told reporters.

The injured have been transported to hospitals in nearby Peshawar and Charsadda districts where doctors described the condition of several as critical.

This is the second suicide blast in Pakistan in less than a week. Police foiled a suicide attack on a Shia Muslim mosque in southern Shikarpur district on Tuesday, when the nation was celebrating Eid-al-Adha, one of the two main Muslim festivals.

The Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack and said the suicide bombing was carried out to target the members of the pro-government tribal Lashkar raised by the local people to fight the militants.

The Jamaatul Ahrar is based in Afghanistan and is headed by Omar Khalid Khurasani, whose real name is Abdul Wali and belongs to Mohmand Agency. He along with his men fled Mohmand Agency and found refuge in Afghanistan after the government launched a military offensive against them in 2008.

The army launched a large-scale military onslaught on the troubled tribal region along the Afghan border in June 2014 killing over 3,500 suspected militants in air strikes and clashes.

Nearly 500 troops have also been killed in landmine blasts and clashes with battle-hardened militants during this period.

Security has improved following the military operation. However, scattered terrorist attacks still take place.

Mohmand Agency, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas of Pakistan, is considered one of the nerve centers of the Pakistani Taliban.

[Photo: A young wounded man being treated after suicide attack at a mosque in Payee Khan, a village in tribal district of Mohmand, near Bajaur Agency in Pakistan on September 16, 2016. Photographer: Muhammad Khan/AA]