"There was certainly more than one attacker, so there is a possibility that some of them may still be hiding in the vicinity," he told reporters.
Most of the dead are reported to have been serving or retired military officials.
At least 32 people have been killed and dozens injured in a coordinated attack at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, military officials say.
Reports suggest there were at least two suicide attacks during Friday prayers followed by a series of explosions.
Witnesses said three attackers sprayed gunfire around the mosque.
The Pakistani security forces have been targeted in a series of recent attacks. Nineteen people were killed in an army base attack in Rawalpindi in October.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said the latest attack had been coordinated.
The BBC's Orla Guerin, in Rawalpindi, says there were helicopters hovering over the city, suggesting security forces were looking for attackers on the run.
Senior police official Aslam Tarin told Reuters news agency: "Initial information indicates that they were two to three attackers who entered the mosque by scaling a wall."
Rawalpindi's police chief, Rao Iqbal, said the attackers "first opened fire and then blew themselves up."
The area around the mosque has been heavily cordoned off by police.
Friday prayers
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says two suicide bombers blew themselves up one after the other inside the mosque, causing the roof of the building to collapse.
"They are taking revenge for the Pakistan army's successful operations in the Swat and Waziristan region," Mr Malik told the ARY television channel.
One witness, Nasir Ali Sheikh, told the BBC he saw three attackers, one of whom threw hand grenades into the mosque.
He said two grenades landed in the men's section of the mosque and one in the women's.
Other attackers were firing randomly in the mosque, said Nasir Ali Sheikh, adding that visitors had had to go through tight security, including metal detectors, to get inside the building.
The incident took place at the Parade Lane mosque, during Friday prayers.
"As soon as we finished prayers, I heard a blast and firing," witness Bakhtawar Hussain told Reuters.
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He said he saw wounded people lying in the courtyard of the mosque.
The mosque is a short distance from the army headquarters, in an area housing several offices of the defence establishment and the intelligence agencies.
There has been a pattern of militant groups trying to attack security targets inside Pakistan recently, as the army pursues an offensive against militants in South Waziristan.
While there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest incident, the Pakistani Taliban have carried out many recent attacks.
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