By IRNA,
Islamabad : A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police group, killing eight of them in the Pakistani capital on Sunday.
The attack also injured 22 other policemen, Interior Advisor Rahman Malik said.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Rana Akbar Hayat earlier said that over 10 policemen were killed in the attack, as a lone bomber on foot exploded himself near a group of the police party.
The policemen were deployed near Red Mosque where thousands of religious students gathered to remember those students who were killed in a military operation in July last year.
TV channels put the death toll 19.
The injured were taken to two hospitals in Islamabad where emergency was declared.
Hospital sources said that several injured are in critical condition.
The blast occurred around 6:15 p.m., at the Melody Civic Center and the explosion was heard in most parts of the country.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Witnesses said that the bomber was in the age of between 30 and 35.
A doctor told reporters that most of the injured are policemen besides a woman and a student.
Around 12000 students and religious leaders attended a conference to mark a last year military operation against the Red Mosque which had killed over 90 religious students.
Interior Advisor Rehman Malik said that the security arrangements for the conference were satisfactory but it is difficult to stop suicide bombings.
A police office said that the bomber did not find any target in the gathering area but saw the police group as easy target for him.
The police group was targeted in less than a kilometer away from the Red Mosque.