Islamabad, May 7
A man with explosives strapped around his body and standing in the front row during Friday prayers in a mosque blew himself up, killing at least 15 Shia worshippers, including the Imam, and injuring about 200 this afternoon in Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

The suicide bombing took place at around 1.50 p.m. when over 400 worshippers were at the Shia mosque inside a government-run religious school.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast as a "heinous act of terrorism" and ordered an immediate probe into the attack.

While 14 deceased were taken to the Karachi Civil Hospital, one body was taken to the Jinnah Hospital. Nearly 50 injured persons remain in hospital while others were discharged after treatment of minor injuries.

The blast created mayhem in the mosque and virtually ripped open its high ceiling. Television channels showed bits of flesh and pools of blood all around as rescuers shifted the wounded in ambulances to hospital. Soon after the blast, Shia mourners attacked the police vehicles with stones and attempted to set them on fire.