ISLAMABAD: At least 15 people were killed and more than 80 injured after a blast hit a mosque on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday, the city’s district administration said. 

The explosion occurred in the Tarlai area around the time of Friday prayers, when large numbers of worshippers gather at mosques across the country, raising fears of a mass-casualty attack. 

The attack comes amid a renewed surge in militant violence in Pakistan and follows a suicide bombing outside a district court complex in Islamabad in November last year that killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, underscoring growing security concerns even in heavily guarded urban centers.

“The death toll from the blast in the federal capital has risen to 15,” a spokesperson for the district administration said in a statement, adding that at least 80 people were injured.

Emergency measures were imposed at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Polyclinic Hospital and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Hospital, the statement said, adding that assistant commissioners had been deployed to oversee treatment of the wounded.

“The site of the blast has been completely sealed,” the district administration spokesperson said.

Earlier, police spokesperson Taqi Jawad said the blast occurred at an imambargah, a place of worship for the Shiite Muslim community.

“More details will be shared in due course,” Jawad said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamabad has historically been less affected by militant violence than Pakistan’s northwestern and southwestern regions, but the November suicide bombing near the district courts, and Friday’s explosion, have heightened concerns about the capital’s vulnerability amid a broader nationwide resurgence of militancy.