Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A bombing in a Pakistan mosque has killed 31 people and injured 169 during Friday prayers.

Police said a suicide bomber exploded the bomb at the Shia imambargah Khadijah-tul-Kubra in the Tarlai section of Islamabad. An imambargah is a congregation hall sometimes used for prayers.

Witnesses said they heard sounds of gunfire before the bomb detonated. An emergency was declared, and an appeal for blood donations was sent out, the BBC reported.

Maryam Nawaz, chief minister of neighboring Punjab, said the provincial government had sent 25 ambulances to Islamabad, Dawn reported.

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