Mandatory Credit: Photo by BILAWAL ARBAB/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13746749s) Rescue workers at the scene of a blast at a Mosque, in Peshawar, Pakistan, 30 January 2023. At least 28 worshippers were killed and dozens injured in a blast during prayers at a Mosque situated in Police lines in Peshawar, Ghulam Ali, Governor of KPK province said. Blast at a Mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan - 30 Jan 2023
At least 32 people have died and around 150 are wounded after a suicide bomb attack on a mosque located in Peshawar’s Police Lines area during Monday afternoon prayers.
Witnesses say the attacker walked to the front row of the mosque before detonating a suicide vest, with the force of the blast causing the roof of the building to collapse.
Many of the victims were police officers, with the mosque located inside a highly fortified compound that includes a counter-terror department and the provincial police headquarters.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for what officials said was likely a targeted attack on the security forces and one of the worst suicide bombings in recent years, although the Pakistani Taliban have been blamed for similar suicide attacks in the past.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif described the incident as a suicide attack and called on members of his Pakistan Muslim League (N) party livinng in Peshawar to donate blood.
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Officials gave varying tolls for the number of worshippers inside the mosque at the time of the explosion, ranging from 260 to around 350. A hospital official told the Reuters news agency that 147 wounded had been taken for treatment, and that some of them were in critical condition.
Spokesperson Mohammad Asim said the Lady Reading Hospital of Peshawar was taking in the majority of the victims and that the area has been cordoned off with only ambulances allowed to enter.
The blast took place at 1.40pm, according to local media outlets.
A survivor, 38-year-old police officer Meena Gul, said he was inside the mosque when the bomb went off. He said he could hear cries and screams after the bomb exploded.
A photograph published in local media showed people gathered around the collapsed wall of the mosque.
Another video shared on Twitter by Khurram Iqbal, a reporter with local TV channel Hum News, showed chaotic scenes outside the mosque with scores of people surrounding the area as a bulldozer entered a narrow lane.
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Reacting to the reports, Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan expressed his condolences for the victims and called for improvements to the country’s intelligence gathering to prevent such attacks.
“Strongly condemn the terrorist suicide attack in Police Lines mosque Peshawar during prayers,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party chief wrote on Twitter. “My prayers & condolences go to victims families.”
“It is imperative we improve our intelligence gathering & properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism.”
This is only the latest in a series of incidents of a deadly bombing in Pakistan, which has been a target of terror groups for decades. The country has witnessed a particular surge in militant attacks since November last year, when the Pakistani Taliban ended their ceasefire with government forces.
A recent report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) stated that in 2022 alone, the South Asian nation witnessed 376 terror attacks, in which 533 people were killed.
Last year, a suicide blast inside a Shia mosque in Peshawar’s Kocha Risaldar area killed 63 people.
independent.co.uk
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