Security guards cordon off the site of a mosque explosion inside police headquarters in Peshawar on January 30, 2023. official said. (Photo by Maaz ALI/AFP) (Photo by MAAZ ALI/AFP via Getty Images)
Maaz Ali | Afp | Getty Images
At least 28 people were killed and 150 worshipers injured in a suicide bombing on Monday inside a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The blasts drew nationwide condemnation from opposition parties and government officials. Ghulam Ali, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Peshawar is the capital, said the death toll could rise further.
Most of the victims were police officers and police officers. The targeted mosque is located in a sprawling compound that also serves as the city’s police headquarters. Police of 300 to 350 of his worshipers were inside the mosque when the bombers detonated the explosives.
No one was quick to claim responsibility for the blast, but Pakistan’s Taliban have been accused of similar suicide attacks in the past, said Sadiq Khan, a senior Peshawar official.
The police facility is located in Peshawar’s high security zone, along with several government buildings, and it was unclear how the bombers managed to penetrate deep into the zone unnoticed.
The blast caused the roof of the mosque to collapse, injuring many people as they caved in, said local police officer Zafar Khan.
Police officer Meena Gul, 38, who survived, said he was inside the mosque when the bomb exploded. He said he doesn’t know how he survived unscathed. Guru said he could hear screams and screams after the bomb exploded.
Police said rescuers cleared a pile of rubble from the mosque’s grounds and rushed to reach worshipers still trapped under the rubble. A nearby hospital listed many of the wounded as in critical condition as the death toll rose.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif condemned the bombing and ordered authorities to give the victims the best possible treatment. He also vowed to take “tough action” against those behind the attack.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan also condemned the bombing, calling it a “terrorist suicide attack” in a Twitter post. “Improving intelligence gathering and properly equipping the police is essential to countering the growing terrorist threat.”
Peshawar is a frequent site of militant attacks. Pakistan’s Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, is an independent group, but in August 2021 the Afghan forces seized power in neighboring Afghanistan as US and NATO forces were in their final stages. It is also a close ally of the Taliban. After twenty years of war they withdrew from the country.
Over the past 15 years, the TTP has rebelled in Pakistan, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic law in the country, the release of government detained members, and a reduction in the presence of Pakistani forces in Pakistan’s former tribal areas.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since November when Pakistan’s Taliban ended a ceasefire with government forces.
The ceasefire has left 1,739 people dead, destroyed more than 2 million homes and at one point submerged a third of the country as Pakistan was still battling unprecedented floods last summer. have totaled more than $30 billion, and authorities are still struggling months later to arrange tents, shelter and food for survivors.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is currently facing one of its worst economic crises and has received $1.1 billion in key installments from the International Monetary Fund, part of a $6 billion bailout package, to avoid default. I am looking for Talks with the IMF on reviving the bailout have stalled in the past few months.
The Sharif government came 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 dismissal was illegal and part of a US-backed conspiracy. Washington and Sharif rejected Khan’s allegations.