26 women killed in Pak stampede

City police chief Niaz Siddiqui said some 50,000 women and children had gathered for a ceremony to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad.

The stampede was triggered when a girl fell while the women were leaving the Sunni Muslim Faizan-e-Madina mosque in the city's eastern district, he said.

"The latest death toll is 26," Siddiqui told AFP.

He said seven bodies were brought to the city's Jinnah Hospital and another 19 to the Liaquat National Hospital. The dead were 20 women, four girls and two boys.

Siddiqui said seven of the 19 women admitted to hospital are in critical condition.

The victims were mostly aged women, said doctor Seemi Jamal at Jinnah Hospital. Several women were unconscious, she added.

"I saw a large number of women coming out of a small gate just after the annual women's congregation ended," said Mohammad Altaf, brother of an injured woman.

"Several women were crushed by the crowd coming out of the hall."