The death toll from Monday’s suicide bombing inside a mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, capital of Jiber Pakhtunkhwa province (north), has risen to 28 dead and nearly 150 wounded, officials confirmed.
The explosion also caused the collapse of part of the roof of the mosque, so it is feared that there are many victims still trapped in the rubble, as reported by the Pakistani newspaper ‘Daily Jang’.
Peshawar police chief Ejaz Jan said it is not known at the moment how many people are trapped in the rubble of the mosque, located near the main police station. «We are focused on the rescue operation,» he said.
In this regard, Jan has specified that «between 300 and 400 policemen usually participate in the prayers». «If there has been an explosion in the area, it is a security problem, but an investigation will give more details,» he said, as reported by the Pakistani television channel Geo TV.
Sources quoted by the Pakistani television channel Geo TV have detailed that the suicide bomber had placed himself in the front row during a prayer that took place in the mosque before activating the explosive charge he was carrying, without further details at the moment.
Following the attack, the provincial Health Department has declared a «medical emergency» and has asked all health workers to remain on alert to deal with the large number of victims.
For his part, the inspector general of the Islamabad Police, Akbar Nasir Jan, has put the capital on «maximum security alert» after the attack, as specified by the Islamabad Police through its account on the social network Twitter.
The event has been condemned by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, who stressed that the fact that the attack was perpetrated inside a mosque shows that those responsible «have nothing to do with Islam».
«These terrorists are trying to cause fear by attacking those who defend Pakistan,» he said, after which Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari promised drastic measures to deal with terrorists and those who support terrorists.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Jan has strongly condemned the attack and extended his condolences to the families of the victims. «It is imperative to enhance our intelligence gathering capabilities and adequately equip our police forces to combat the growing menace of terrorism,» he has said.
Pakistani security forces have in recent weeks stepped up their operations against Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, after the armed group announced in late November the end of a ceasefire agreed with Pakistani authorities amid contacts being brokered by the Afghan Taliban following their seizure of power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
The TTP group, which differs from the Afghan Taliban in organizational matters but follows the same rigorist interpretation of Sunni Islam, brings together more than a dozen Islamist militant groups operating in Pakistan, where they have killed some 70,000 people in two decades of violence.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
