Pakistani officials say a suicide bomber targeted a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers, killing 31 people and wounding at least 169 others. It was a rare attack in the capital of Pakistan as its Western-allied government struggles to rein in a surge in militant attacks across the country. Some of the wounded in the attack on the sprawling mosque of Khadija Al-Kubra were reported to be in critical condition. Television footage and social media images showed police and residents transporting the wounded to nearby hospitals. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Militant groups across Pakistan often target security forces and civilians.
By NICOLE WINFIELD and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press
Pope Francis has arrived in Indonesia to start the longest trip of his pontificate. He is hoping to encourage its Catholic communities and celebrate the tradition of interfaith harmony in a country with the world's largest Muslim population. Francis planned to take a rest day after arriving on Tuesday in Jakarta. However, the Vatican said he met with a group of refugees, migrants and sick people at the Vatican residence in Jakarta. The highlight of the first leg of Francis' trip will be his participation Thursday in an interfaith meeting in the Istiqlal mosque, which sits across a square from Jakarta's main Catholic cathedral. The 11-day voyage will also take him to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca for the Hajj, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale. Saudi officials say more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in Mecca so far. More are expected, and hundreds of thousands of Saudis and others living in Saudi Arabia will also join them when the pilgrimage officially begins on Friday. Saudi officials expect the number to exceed the participants in 2023, when more than 1.8 million people performed Hajj. The numbers are nearing the totals before the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, more than 2.4 million Muslims made the pilgrimage.
