Injured in critical condition
Explosion at mosque in Pakistan kills 25 people
1/30/2023 2:09 p.m
An explosion during afternoon prayers at a mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar causes the building’s roof and walls to collapse. 120 people are injured. According to eyewitnesses, emergency services also carry a number of dead people out of the rubble.
At least 25 people have been killed in an explosion at a mosque inside a police headquarters in Pakistan. A government official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border, said 120 people were injured. “More and more bodies are coming in,” said a spokesman for the Peshawar hospital, who initially spoke of 17 dead and more than 80 injured.
The blast happened during afternoon prayers at the mosque. According to the police, the explosion occurred in the second row of believers. Bomb experts are now examining the assumption that it could have been a suicide attack.
An AFP journalist reported on emergency services carrying the dead into an ambulance. Accordingly, the roof and walls of the mosque had partially collapsed. According to the police, many believers were still trapped in the building. Heavy machinery and firefighters searched the rubble for survivors. “I’m here on site and the rescue work is ongoing,” said official Shafiullah Khan from the regional administration, who spoke of at least 25 dead. “More bodies are being retrieved. For now, our priority is to rescue the people buried under the rubble.”
TTP fighters active in the region
In March, a suicide bomber from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia carried out an attack on a mosque belonging to the Shia minority in Peshawar, killing 64 people. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2018.
The Pakistani branch of the radical Islamic Taliban, which operates under the name Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is also active in the region. In Peshawar, TTP fighters carried out a massacre in 2014: They raided a school looking for children of army personnel and killed almost 150 people, most of whom were schoolchildren.