A household stroll previous an enormous mural of historic Islamia Faculty constructing painted on an overhead bridge wall, in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Jan. 7, 2022. (Muhammad Sajjad / AP)
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN --
A suicide bomber struck inside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan's northwestern metropolis of Peshawar throughout Friday prayers, killing no less than 56 worshippers and wounding 194 folks, hospital officers mentioned.
No militant group instantly claimed accountability for the assault. Each the Islamic State group and the Pakistani Taliban -- a militant group separate from the Taliban in Afghanistan -- have carried out related assaults prior to now within the space, situated close to the border with neighboring Afghanistan.
In keeping with the spokesman at Peshawar's Woman Studying Hospital, Asim Khan, most of the wounded have been in important situation. Scores of victims have been peppered with shrapnel, a number of had limbs amputated and others have been injured by flying particles.
Peshawar Police Chief Muhammed Ejaz Khan mentioned the violence began when an armed attacker opened hearth on police exterior the mosque in Peshawar's previous metropolis. One policeman was killed within the gunfight, and one other police officer was wounded. The attacker then ran contained in the mosque and detonated his suicide vest.
The suicide bomber had strapped a strong explosive gadget to his physique, filled with 5 kilograms (12 kilos) of explosives, mentioned Moazzam Jah Ansari, the highest police official for Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province the place Peshawar is the capital.
The devise was hidden beneath a big black scarf that coated a lot of his physique, in keeping with CCTV footage seen by The Related Press. The footage confirmed the bomber transferring rapidly up a slender road towards the mosque entrance. He fired on the police defending the mosque earlier than coming into inside.
Inside seconds a strong explosion occurred and the digicam lens was obscured with mud and particles. Ansari mentioned the crudely made gadget was filled with ball bearings, a lethal methodology of developing a bomb to inflict probably the most carnage spraying a bigger space with lethal projectiles. The ball bearings brought on the excessive dying toll, Ansari mentioned.
Native police official Waheed Khan mentioned the explosion occurred as worshippers had gathered within the Kucha Risaldar Mosque for Friday prayers. There are fears the dying toll might nonetheless rise additional, he added.
Ambulances rushed by means of congested slender streets carrying the wounded to Woman Studying Hospital, the place medical doctors labored feverishly.
Shayan Haider, a witness, had been getting ready to enter the mosque when a strong explosion threw him to the bottom. "I opened my eyes and there was mud and our bodies in all places," he mentioned.
On the Woman Studying Hospital Emergency division, there was chaos as medical doctors struggled to maneuver the various wounded into working theaters. A whole lot of kin gathered exterior the emergency division, a lot of them wailing and beating their chests, pleading for details about their family members.
Exterior the mosque, Shiites pressed by means of the cordoned-off streets. Kucha Risaldar Mosque is among the oldest within the space, predating the creation of Pakistan in 1947 as a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent.
The prayer chief, Allama Irshad Hussein Khalil, a distinguished up and coming younger Shiite chief, was among the many lifeless. All through town, ambulance sirens might be heard.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the bombing. His nationwide safety adviser, Moeed Yusuf, mentioned the bombing was a "heinous terrorist assault" and promised that these behind the carnage would "be dropped at justice. We won't enable our beneficial properties in opposition to terrorism & our inside safety to be compromised at any price."
Retired military officer Sher Ali who had been contained in the mosque on the time of the explosion was injured by flying shrapnel. He made a impassioned plea to the Pakistani authorities for higher safety of the nation's minority Shiites.
"What's our sin? What have we accomplished? Aren't we residents of this nation?" he mentioned from inside the emergency division, his white garments splattered with blood.
In majority Sunni Pakistan, minority Shiites have come beneath repeated assaults. Additionally, in current months, the nation has skilled a major enhance of violence and dozens of navy personnel have been killed in scores of assaults on military outposts alongside the border with Afghanistan.
Many assaults have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, who analysts say have been emboldened by the Afghan Taliban seizing energy final August in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has urged Afghanistan's new rulers to handover Pakistani Taliban militants who've been staging their assaults from Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban have mentioned their territory won't be used to stage assaults in opposition to anybody, however till now haven't handed over any needed Pakistani militants.
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Gannon reported from Islamabad. Related Press author Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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