Toll from Pakistan mosque attacks hits 53

At least 53 people have been killed in attacks on two mosques in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to hospital officials.

The officials said more than 100 were wounded in the twin attacks. At one location, Garhi Shahu, at least 34 people were killed and at the other, Model Town, at least 19 people died.

The gunmen opened fire shortly after Friday prayers and loud explosions were heard at two Ahmadi mosques in residential neighbourhoods in Pakistan's cultural capital.

Resident, Mohammad Nawaz said: "I saw some gunmen run towards the Ahmadis' place of worship and then I heard blasts and gunfire."

Ahmadis are a minority Muslim sect founded in the late 19th century. Pakistan is the only Muslim state to have declared Ahmadis non-Muslims. Its 4 million-odd members have seen their religious rights in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan curtailed by law.