Seventeen kids among dozens killed in Pakistan attack

Militants stormed a mosque near Pakistan's army headquarters, killing at least 36 people, including six military officers and 17 children, during Friday prayers as they sprayed gunfire and threw grenades before blowing themselves up, officials said.

It was the latest in a wave of strikes by suspected Islamist insurgents that has killed more than 400 people in Pakistan since October.

The Associated Press put the death toll at 36. Reuters, meanwhile, reported that said 40 had been killed in the incident, noting that it was not clear if that figure included attackers.

A military statement said four attackers hurled grenades, then opened fire as they rushed toward the mosque, which was located on Parade Lane in a military residential colony, just a few miles from the capital. Two suicide bombers then blew themselves up inside, while the other two militants were killed in an exchange of gunfire, it said.

City residents said access to the mosque was mostly restricted to soldiers and their families.