Security personnel cordon off the location of a mosque blast contained in the police headquarters in Peshawar on January 30, 2023. – At the least 25 people were killed and 120 were injured in a mosque blast at a police headquarters in Pakistan on January 30, a neighborhood government official said. (Photo by Maaz ALI / AFP) (Photo by MAAZ ALI/AFP via Getty Images)
Maaz Ali | Afp | Getty Images
A suicide bomber struck Monday inside a mosque inside a police compound within the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing not less than 28 people and wounding as many as 150 worshippers, most of them policemen, officials said.
The bombing drew nationwide condemnation from opposition political parties and government officials. Ghulam Ali, the provincial governor in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Peshawar is the capital, said there have been fears the death toll could rise even further.
A lot of the casualties were policemen and cops — the targeted mosque is situated inside a sprawling compound, which also serves as the town’s police headquarters. Police between 300 to 350 worshipers were contained in the mosque when the bomber detonated his explosives.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, said Saddique Khan, a senior police official in Peshawar, however the Pakistani Taliban have been blamed in similar suicide attacks previously.
The police compound is situated in a high-security zone in Peshawar, together with several government buildings, and it was unclear how the bomber managed to penetrate so deep contained in the zone unnoticed.
The impact of the explosion collapsed the roof of the mosque, which caved in and injured many, in response to Zafar Khan, a neighborhood police officer.
A survivor, 38-year-old police officer Meena Gul, said he was contained in the mosque when the bomb went off. He said he doesn’t understand how he survived unharmed. He could hear cries and screams after the bomb exploded, Gul said.
Rescuers scrambled attempting to remove mounds of debris from the mosque grounds and get to worshippers still trapped under the rubble, police said. At a close-by hospital, most of the wounded were listed in critical condition because the casualty toll rose.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a press release condemned the bombing, and ordered authorities to make sure the perfect possible medical treatment to the victims. He also vowed “stern motion” against those that were behind the attack.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan also condemned the bombing, calling it a “terrorist suicide attack” in a Twitter posting. “My prayers & condolences go to victims families,” said the ex-premier. “It’s imperative we improve our intelligence gathering & properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism.”
Peshawar has been the scene of frequent militant attacks. The Pakistani Taliban, are generally known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and are separate group but in addition a detailed ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the ultimate stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.
The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws within the country, the discharge of their members who’re in government custody and a discount of the Pakistani military presence within the country’s former tribal regions.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since November when the Pakistani Taliban ended their cease-fire with government forces.
The truce ended as Pakistan was still contending with last summer’s unprecedented flooding that killed 1,739 people, destroyed greater than 2 million homes, and at one point submerged as much as one third of the country. The flood damages totaled to greater than $30 billion and authorities at the moment are, months later, still struggling to rearrange tents, shelter and food for the survivors.
Money-strapped Pakistan is currently also facing one in every of the worst economic crisis and is searching for a vital installment of $1.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund — a part of its $6 billion bailout package — to avoid default. Talks with the IMF on reviving the bailout have stalled previously months.
Sharif’s government got here to power last April after Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament. Khan has since campaigned for early elections, claiming his ouster was illegal and a part of a plot backed by america. Washington and Sharif have dismissed Khan’s claims.
