Pakistan mosque blast hurts eight

Peshawar, Pakistan - A bomb has exploded at a mosque in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, injuring at least eight people, officials have said.

The "low intensity" bomb went off just after evening prayers in the minority Shia mosque in the Hashtnagri neighbourhood, the officials said.

Shias make up about 15% of Pakistan's 160m Sunni-majority population.

Thousands have been killed in sporadic Sunni-Shia sectarian violence over the past 25 years.

The device was planted in a room where the mosque's custodian was receiving guests, police said.

The blast damaged a mosque wall, as well as windows in nearby houses.

Funeral killings

Peshawar is also close to the tribal region where government forces have been battling al-Qaeda militants and tribesmen sympathetic to their cause.

On Friday, a bomb killed at least six people at the funeral of a Shia Muslim in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier Province.

Last Thursday a suicide bomber killed nine worshippers at a mosque in the tribal district of Bajaur.