Pakistani attack: 100 dead in the suicide attack on a mosque

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Pakistani security officials stand guard as people receive the remains of victims of loved ones a day after a suicide bomb exploded at a mosque inside Peshawar’s ‘Police Lines’ safe area, in Pakistan on January 31, 2023. Hussain Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty

Peshawar, Pakistan – Officials have blamed a suicide bombing that killed 100 people inside a mosque at a police and government compound in northwest Pakistan on a “security breach”. The blast, which ripped through a Sunni mosque inside a major police station in the city of Peshawar, was one of the deadliest attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent years.

As many as 225 people were injured, some still in serious condition in hospital, according to Kashif Aftab Abbasi, a senior officer in Peshawar. More than 300 worshipers were praying in the mosque, and more were approaching the building, when the suicide bomber set off his bullet-proof vest on Monday morning, officials said. The blast blew off part of the roof, and what was left quickly collapsed, injuring many others, according to Zafar Khan, a police officer. Rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshipers still trapped under the rubble.

Rescuers carry out search and rescue operations amid the debris of a heavily damaged mosque a day after a suicide bombing inside the police headquarters in Peshawar, Pakistan, January 31, 2023. Hussain Ali /Anadolu Agency/Getty

Mohammad Asim, spokesman for the government hospital in Peshawar, said more bodies were found overnight and early Tuesday, and several of the seriously injured people died.

“Most of them were police,” Asim said of the victims. Bilal Faizi, the chief relief officer, said rescue teams were still working at the site on Tuesday as more people are believed to be trapped inside. Mourners buried the victim in various cemeteries in the city and elsewhere. Counter-terrorism police are investigating how the suicide bomber was able to reach the mosque, which is in a fortified compound inside a high-security zone with other government buildings. “Yes, it was a security breach,” said Ghulam Ali, the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital.

People help a mourner at the site of a suicide bomber inside a mosque at a fortified police area in Peshawar, Pakistan, January 30, 2023. MAAZ ALI/AFP/Getty

Abbasi, the official who gave the latest casualty toll, agreed. “There was a breach of security and the Inspector General of Police has set up a commission of inquiry, which will examine all aspects of the attack,” he said. “Action will be taken against those whose negligence” caused the attack. Talat Masood, a retired army general and senior security analyst, said Monday’s suicide bombing showed “negligence”. “When you know that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is active, and when you know that they have threatened to carry out attacks, there should have been more security in the police compound in Peshawar,” he said. he told The Associated Press on Tuesday, referring to a militant group also known as the Pakistani Taliban or TTP. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited a hospital in Peshawar after the bombing and vowed “stern action” against the perpetrators of the attack. “The scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. This is nothing less than an attack on Pakistan,” he tweeted. On Tuesday he dismissed criticism of his government and called for unity.

Just got back from Peshawar. The magnitude of the human tragedy is unimaginable. It is nothing less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed by a deep sense of grief. I am convinced that terrorism is our main challenge to national security.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) January 30, 2023

“Through their despicable actions, terrorists want to spread fear and paranoia among the masses and undo our hard-earned gains against terrorism and militancy,” he tweeted.

Authorities have not determined who was behind the attack. Shortly after the blast, TTP commander Sarbakaf Mohmand claimed responsibility for the attack in a Twitter post, but hours later TTP spokesman Mohammad Khurasani dismissed the group of the attack, saying it was not its policy to target mosques, seminaries and religious places, adding that those who take part in such acts could face punitive measures under TTP’s policy . His statement did not explain why a TTP commander had claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim, has seen an upsurge in militant attacks since November, when the Pakistani Taliban ended a ceasefire with government forces as the country grappled with unprecedented flooding that killed 1,739 people, destroyed more than 2 million homes, and at one point submerged as much as a third of the country. The Pakistani Taliban are the dominant militant group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and Peshawar has been the scene of frequent attacks. But the Islamic State in Khorasan province, a regional affiliate of the ISIS group and a rival of the Taliban, has also been behind deadly attacks in Pakistan in recent years. Overall, violence has increased since the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021, as US and NATO troops withdrew from the country after 20 years of war. The TTP is distinct but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban. It has led an insurgency in Pakistan for the past 15 years, seeking stricter enforcement of Islamic laws, the release of its government-detained members and a reduction in the Pakistani military presence in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that ‘he’s been using as a base for a long time. Earlier this month, the Pakistani Taliban claimed that one of their operatives shot and killed two intelligence officers, including the director of the counterterrorism branch of the military spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence. Security officials said on Monday the gunman was found and killed in a shooting in the northwest, near the Afghan border. In 2014, a Pakistani Taliban faction attacked a military-run school in Peshawar and killed 154 people, mostly schoolchildren. The Taliban-run Afghan Foreign Ministry said it was “saddened to learn that many people lost their lives” in Peshawar and condemned the attacks on worshipers as contrary to the teachings of Islam. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting the Middle East, tweeted his condolences, saying the Peshawar bombing was a “horrible attack” and that “terrorism for any reason and everywhere is indefensible”. Condemnations also came from the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, as well as the US Embassy, ​​which said “the United States stands with Pakistan in condemning all forms of terrorism”. . UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attack “particularly heinous” because it targeted a place of worship, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also expressed his condolences, calling the attack a “terrorist suicide bombing”.

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