A suicide attack during Friday prayers in Islamabad left 31 people dead and 169 injured.

According to local media, an explosion at the Tarlai Imambargah in the Shehzad Town neighborhood of Islamabad on Friday claimed at least 31 lives and injured 169 more. Following an initial investigation, the authorities declared the incident to be a suicide bomber assault. It happened as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers.

Shia Muslims assemble at an imambargah, also known as an imambada, to grieve the tragedy in Karbala.As residents and the relatives of the victims arrived, frantically looking for their loved ones, a video taken from the scene showed severed limbs scattered around the carpeted floor amid glass fragments.As residents started to assemble at the blast site, another video showed security guards enclosing the area. A flurry of vehicles carrying officials, Pakistani government agencies, forensic teams, and medical workers were seen coming and going from the scene.

Police and rescue crews immediately began relief efforts after the explosion, demonstrating the quick response of emergency services to the scene. As injured victims were sent to surrounding hospitals for immediate medical attention, the neighborhood was in disarray.A spokeswoman from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) was quoted in a news report after the occurrence, confirming that the hospital had declared an emergency. In an effort to control the flood of casualties, the injured were transferred to PIMS and the Polyclinic for medical care.

The suicide attack occurred during Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s two-day state visit and a few days after Pakistani security forces engaged in lethal combat with the Balochistan Liberation Army, which left both sides with significant losses.

This explosion is the capital’s second significant explosion in as many months. At least 12 people were killed and over 25 injured in a car explosion that occurred at the Islamabad court complex in November. That incident was categorized as a suicide attack by officials.

Lawyers and others at the district court were alarmed by the explosion that happened in a parked car close to the entrance during busy business hours last year. The force of the detonation was so severe that it could be felt up to six kilometers distant.

At that time, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif blamed Afghanistan for the attack, declaring that the country was in a “state of war.”

“We are in a state of war. Anyone who thinks the Pakistan army is fighting this only in the Afghan-Pakistan border region or Balochistan should take the suicide attack at Islamabad district courts as a wake-up call. This is a war for all of Pakistan, where the Army is making daily sacrifices to keep people secure,” Asif had tweeted, even as the blast occured nearly a month after a ceasefire agreement was signed between Islamabad and Kabul.