A suicide bombing at a crowded mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, killed at least 32 people on Monday, the latest attack on police in this northwestern city where Islamist militants remain active.
Hospital officials said at least 147 people were injured, many of them critically.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif called the blast a suicide attack. There were at least 260 people in the mosque, police officer Sikandar Khan added.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which destroyed the mosque during midday prayers, causing a wall to collapse on top of worshippers.
The building is located within a highly fortified complex that includes provincial police headquarters and an anti-terrorist department.
“We are realizing that the terrorist was in the front row,” Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo TV.
Footage from government broadcaster PTV showed police and residents scrambling to clear debris from the blast site and carrying wounded men on their shoulders.
The attack was the worst in the city since March last year, when a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque during Friday prayers killed at least 58 people and injured nearly 200.
Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attack.
Peshawar, which is on the outskirts of Pakistan’s tribal districts on the border with Afghanistan, is often targeted by militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban.
The group, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella group of Sunni and sectarian Islamist groups that want to overthrow the government and replace it with their own brand of Islamic governance.
The TTP has stepped up attacks since ending a so-called peace deal last year with the Pakistani government, facilitated by the Afghan Taliban.
The TTP has carried out frequent attacks against the police in recent months. In December, Islamist militants seized an anti-terrorism center in the northwest and took hostages to negotiate with government officials.
Source: CNN Brasil
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