Islamabad: At least 60 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mosque in a Shia neighbourhood in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar. The blast ripped through Kucha Risaldar mosque in Peshawar’s old city area of Qissa Khwani when people from minority Shia community gathered for the Friday prayers.
An eyewitness said the suicide bomber dressed in black shalwar kameez entered the mosque and started firing, killing a man who tried to stop him. Immediately after, the witness said, the assailant blew himself up inside the prayer hall in front of the pulpit. “After the blast, there was smoke, dust, bodies and wounded people everywhere.”
According to the bomb disposal squad, 5kg of explosives and ball bearings were used. City police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan said two armed attackers came to the mosque on a motorcycle and fired at cops when they were stopped for a search. “A policeman and an attacker were killed in the gunfight. Another policeman was wounded. The second attacker entered the mosque and blew himself up,” Khan said.
The death count could rise as Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Mohammad Asim said around 35 people were gravely wounded. He confirmed that about 60 bodies and 200 wounded men were brought to the hospital, nearest to the site, but the rescue effort was slowed down by the locality’s congested narrow streets. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Pakistan’s Shia community was frequently targeted in the past by Sunni Islamist terrorist groups, including the Islamic State and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan saw a spike in violence in recent months, especially after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Dozens of military personnel have been killed in attacks on army outposts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces along the border with Afghanistan.
