A POWERFUL suicide blast ripped through a crowded Shia mosque during a Friday congregation in Pakistan’s northwestern Peshawar city, killing at least 56 people.
A rescue official said the blast occurred at a Jamia mosque in Qissa Khwani bazaar area in Peshawar when the worshippers were offering prayers.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.
Mohammad Asim, a spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital, confirmed the death toll and said at least 194 were injured in the blast.
Peshawar’s senior police officer Haroon Rasheed Khan said the explosion was a suicide blast.
There were two attackers but only one of them was a suicide bomber, he said.
An emergency has been enforced in the hospital and doctors on leave were called for duties.
Capital City Police Officer Peshawar Ijaz Ahsan said two attackers tried to enter the mosque and fired at the policemen standing guard. One policeman was killed while the other was critically injured.
The blast occurred following the firing incident.
President Arif Alvi condemned the blast and expressed grief over the lives lost.
Prime minister Imran Khan condemned the blast, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mahmood Khan vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The chief minister said he directed authorities to ensure the best medical care to the injured.
He convened an emergency meeting to review the overall security situation in the province, bordering Afghanistan.
“Heart-wrenching terrorist incident in Peshawar in which so many precious lives have been lost. Words can’t adequately condemn the sheer brutality. Terrorism continues to remain our foremost national challenge. Prayers & condolences are with the bereaved families!” PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif tweeted.
In another incident in Pakistan, three people were killed and 18 others injured after a bomb exploded on Wednesday (2) in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.
