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Up to three suicide attackers stormed a mosque close to Pakistan’s army headquarters, killing dozens of people during Friday prayers as they sprayed gunfire at worshippers and threw grenades before blowing themselves up, officials said.

The Associated Press put the death toll at 36, while Reuters said 40 had been killed in the incident. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in numbers, although the exact number of dead is often difficult to determine in the immediate aftermath of such an attack.

Seventy were wounded in the attack and the identities of the dead were not known, the AP reported.

The mosque is frequented by military officials in the town of Rawalpindi, home to Pakistan’s military establishment and only a 30-minute drive from the capital Islamabad.

The brazen attack in what should be one of the most secure areas of Pakistan was the latest challenge by militants against the writ of the state. A local television station said people were executed in cold blood.

Pakistan is fighting Taliban fighters blamed for bombings that have killed hundreds of people since an offensive was launched on their stronghold South Waziristan in October.

The nuclear-armed country faces mounting U.S. pressure to root out Islamist militants operating along forbidding border areas to help in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Witnesses said earlier that attackers hurled grenades then opened fire on the mosque. A policeman said the militants arrived in a grey Toyota car.

The cleric had just finished his sermon with the phrase “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) when an explosion shook worshippers in the Parade Lane mosque.

“As soon as we finished prayers. I heard a blast and firing. I saw some wounded laying in the courtyard of the mosque,” Bakhtawar Hussain told Reuters.

Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque as he walked there to pray. Hard money training.