At least 50 dead in Pakistan mosque blast

LAHORE, Pakistan, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Pakistani officials said a suicide bomber's assassination attempt on a former official killed at least 50 people in a crowded mosque in the city of Lahore.

The officials said an another 80 people were injured, including the son and two grandnephews of former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, The New York Times reported Friday.

Sherapao, whom officials said was the target of the blast, was unharmed. The suicide bombing marked the second attempt on the former law enforcement official's life in eight months.

Sherapao told the Times that he believed the explosion took place in the third or fourth row of worshipers during services for Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha.

"It was a massacre," he said. "I can tell you that."

CNN reported the attack was the country's deadliest since an Oct. 18 suicide bombing targeting the convoy of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed 136 people in Karachi.