Suicide Bomber Kills 59 in Pakistan Mosque

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PESHAWAR — A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded mosque in a highly fortified security compound in Pakistan on Monday, killing 59 people, the latest attack by resurgent Islamist militants targeting police.

To get inside, the attacker appears to have broken through multiple barricades guarded by security forces. “Red Zone” Police said that the compound houses counter-terrorism officers and police in Peshawar’s volatile northwestern city.

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“It was a suicide bombing,” Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters. He stated that many of the 170 people who were injured were in critical conditions.

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Mohammad Asim, a hospital official, stated that the death toll rose after multiple victims succumbed to their injuries.

The bombing happened a day before an International Monetary Fund mission to Islamabad to initiate talks on unlocking funding for the South Asian country’s economy, which is enduring a balance of payments crisis.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Shariff condemned the attack.

Officials stated that the bomber detonated his load just as hundreds of people were lining up to offer their prayers.

“We have found traces of explosives,” Khan explained to reporters that the bomber had entered the most secure area of the compound, indicating that there had been a security breach.

A probe was underway to determine how the attacker broke into such an elite security perimeter and whether any inside assistance was available.

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Khan claimed that the mosque hall was filled with 400 worshippers and that the majority of those who died were police officers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the worst in Peshawar since March 2022 when an Islamic State suicide bombing killed at least 58 people in a Shi’ite Muslim mosque during Friday prayers.

Peshawar, which straddles the edge of Pakistan’s tribal districts bordering Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Islamist militant groups including Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban.

ALLAH IS THE GREATEST

Geo TV’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stated that the bomber was in the first row with worshippers.

“As the prayer leader said ‘Allah is the greatest’, there was a big bang,” Mushtaq, a policeman suffering from a head injury, spoke to reporters from his hospital room.

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“We couldn’t figure out what happened as the bang was deafening. It threw me out of the veranda. The walls and roof fell on me. Thanks to God, he saved me.”

The mosque’s upper story was blown to pieces, trapping many worshippers under the rubble. Live TV footage captured rescuers cutting through the rooftop to get down to the victims.

“We can’t say how many are still under it,” said provincial governor Haji Ghulam Ali.

“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable,” Sharif stated. “This is no less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed by a deep sense of grief. I have no doubt terrorism is our foremost national security challenge.”

Witnesses described chaos as police and rescuers raced to get the injured to hospitals.

Sharif appealed for his party’s employees to donate blood to the hospitals. He said that anyone who targets Muslims during prayer has nothing to do Islam. (Reporting from Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Asif Shahzad Islamabad; Writing done by Shilpa Jkhandikar & Asif Shahzad; Editing done by Bernadettebaum, Mark Heinrich & Grant McCool