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Terrorist organisation TTP claims responsibility as more than feared 165 injured
Pakistan’s dangerous ploy of harbouring terrorists, to use them against India, is costing them dearly, as the cash-strapped nation was jolted by a powerful blast that ripped through the Police Line mosque in Peshawar.
The Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for the attack. TTP commander Sarbakaf Mohmand said that the January 30th mosque suicide bombing was carried out by a 25-year-old man named Huzaifa, a resident of Mohmand Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
According to reports, at around 1.40 pm local time, a suicide bomber standing in the front row detonated his suicide vest with approximately 7 kg of explosives attached to it moments after the Zuhr (afternoon) prayers started.
Initially, 17 people were reported dead and more than 80 were injured. By late evening, official reports said that the toll had risen to 61, while 166 people were reported to be injured. Many are still feared to be trapped under the rubble and efforts to rescue them were still going on when this story was filed.
Peshawar Commissioner Riaz Mehsood said, “A rescue operation was underway inside the mosque as a number of people were buried under the rubble.”
Another Peshawar police officer involved in the rescue operation said that the roof of the mosque collapsed after the blast. “A number of jawans are still stuck under the rubble and rescuers are trying to pull them out,” the officer said.
He further said that the main hall of the mosque, which had a capacity of 250 to 300 people, had collapsed but that the rest of the building was still intact. The mosque was filled to near capacity when the explosion took place.
The dead and injured have been moved to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH). “Some of the injured are in critical condition, but most are stable,” said the hospital spokesperson, adding that more injured are being shifted to the hospital. The hospital also issued an appeal for blood donations.
Following the bombing, the provincial health department declared an emergency in the Peshawar district and asked all medical personnel to remain on duty.
Meanwhile, Pakistani PM Shahbaz Sharif and Chief of the Army Staff Asif Munir also reached Peshawar to take stock of the situation.
PM Sharif strongly condemned the suicide attack and stated that those who are fighting against Pakistan would be ‘erased from the page’ and would serve as a lesson to those who shed the unjust blood of citizens. He further said that the entire nation and its institutions were united to end terrorism and that the country saluted its martyrs.
All major political and religious organisations have also condemned the bombing. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has cancelled its protest against inflation, which was scheduled to take place in Peshawar outside the Governor House. Senior PTI leader Sher Ali has urged party workers not to come to the protest.
Following the suicide attack, a red alert has been sounded in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, and security has been tightened across the country’s major towns as well.
Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country has worsened, with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country.
Since the talks with the TTP collapsed last year, the terrorist group has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP province and areas bordering Afghanistan. Lately, many organisations present in Balochistan, which is demanding independence from Pakistan, have increased their violent activities in the region and have also joined hands with the TTP.
