Islamabad, Aug 20 (IANS): Condemning the suicide bombing at a mosque in northwest Pakistan that left over 50 people dead, President Asif Ali Zardari termed it an abhorrent act and said the government was determined to defeat terrorism.

The government and the people of Pakistan remain determined to defeat terrorism, Zardari said.

Such gruesome acts cannot deter the resolve of the nation to defeat the terrorists, Daily Times quoted him as saying Saturday.

President Zardari expressed his condolences to the families of the victims killed in Friday's mosque attack.

Condemning the blast, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the terrorists repeatedly proved they bring a bad name to our religion by carrying out such cowardly acts of terrorism.

Fifty-three people were killed when a suicide bomber, said to be a teenaged boy, exploded himself inside a packed mosque during Friday prayers in Pakistan's Jamrud district.

The deafening afternoon blast devastated the shrine in Ghondi area, leaving more than 125 people also injured, many crippled for life.