Casualties in the suicide blast in Pakistan's northwest city of Mingora on Thursday have risen to 50, local media reported.

According to the reports, so far at least five people were killed and 45 others including two women and seven children were injured in the blast and many of the injured who have been shifted to a nearby hospital are said to be in critical condition.

About eight vehicles including three military vehicles of the convoy were damaged in the blast, said eyewitnesses, adding that the legs and body parts of the suicide bomber were found on the blast spot.

Police have cordoned off the area where the blast took place and a large-scale search operation has been put underway, said police sources, adding that a bomb disposal squad is now searching the area for other possible bombs.

The blast took place at about 12:30 p.m. local time when a suicide bomber blew himself up among a convoy of security forces which is patrolling nearby a general bus stand in the downtown area of Mingora where a large-scale tourist festival is being held in the city, attracting thousands of visitors both from the city and the other parts of the country.

Local media said that the police had received a prior warning that a young suicide bomber had entered the city for possible attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

On July 1, three suicide bombers attacked a shrine in Pakistan' s eastern city of Lahore, killing 47 people and injuring 175 others. Not long after this, on July 5th, another suicide car bomb blast took place at the entrance of an army camp in Lower Dir area in northwest Pakistan, killing one troop and injuring 17 others including 11 security persons.

On July 9, two suicide bombers attacked a government building in a busy commercial area in a town of Mohmand Agency in Pakistan' s northwest tribal area, killing at least 107 people and injuring over 120 others, making the attack the most serious of its kind in the country over the past couple of years.