Diya Hadid

The group said in an Arabic language statement that guards posted outside the Shiite mosque in Islamabad tried to stop the bomber from entering, but he shot them before detonating his explosives in a crowd of worshippers.

It was the second blast to strike the Pakistani capital in months and it was the deadliest since 2008, reviving fears from a time when militants frequently struck Pakistani cities.

The Interior Minister Mohsen Naqvi says they've arrested four people in relation to the attack and says the bomber trained in Afghanistan.

Naqvi also blamed neighbouring India, accusing it of funding those militants.

India rejects those claims.

Diya Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.

Smog thickens over much of South Asia every winter.

Air pollution levels routinely hit hazardous levels around the Indian capital, New Delhi.

It's so bad that the Energy Policy Institute estimates residents lose more than eight years of their lives here because of the pollution.

The smog is so thick that this week airlines cancelled dozens of flights and delayed many more to and from the capital.

Delayed flights included one that the soccer star Lionel Messi was meant to board on Monday to Delhi.

He was on a tour of India.

Local media reported it also delayed the departure of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an overseas tour.

The Indian government says it's taking action, including a ban on open-air grills used for charcoal chicken and tandoori bread.

Critics say it's not enough.

Dee Hadid, NPR News, New Delhi.

These are really dark days for the some 265,000 Afghans who advocates say were in the pipeline to come to the U.S.,

Like Roshan Garg, he was in the Afghan military.

He used to sign off on airstrikes targeting Taliban fighters.

He's now in hiding in Afghanistan in fear of his life, which is why I won't use his full name.