At least 7 people were killed, and 120 others were wounded following an explosion at a Pakistani religious school in Peshwar, Tuesday.
According to police and health authorities, the blast happened at around 8:30 in the morning, local time at the Speen Jamaat mosque that at the same time serves as a religious education institution for the city's Dir Colony community.
In a report by Aljazeera, Muhammad Ali Khan, police chief of Peshwar stated told reporters who were at the scene that the explosion happened while students were in the middle of reading the Quran.
Moreover, the police chief added that the initial investigation revealed that the blast was caused by an explosive composed of five to six kilograms of explosive material. He also noted that an unidentified person came into the school and left the bag with the explosives.
The report also noted that it remains unclear how many among the killed or wounded were children since the students at the school also included several adults.
On the other hand, CNN reported that Shafqat Malik, the chief of the provincial police's bomb disposal unit, stated that the device used in the blast was sophisticated and involved timed detonation.
He further added that the device was of high quality and apparently used TNT. He also noted that the damage, the explosive, and the explosion's timing indicate that the bombing was planned and that it was done with great thought.
Based on the television footage in the blast scene, it was seen that the interior of the mosque's prayer hall sustained significant damage. Pockmarks can be seen on the ceilings, and debris can be found across the hall's floor.
As of the moment, around 83 of those who were wounded were brought to the main government hospital of the city, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) for treatment. Meanwhile, 26 other victims were taken to Naseerullah Khan Babar hospital.
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For more than a decade, Pakistan has been in a battle against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). A group is known for carrying out frequent attacks against civilians and known to be a security risk in the country since 2007.
In 2014, however, the violence dropped after the Pakistani military launched operations to displace the TTP from its headquarters. The displacement caused many of the group's fighter and commanders to move into neighboring countries; most of them allegedly moved to Afghanistan.
Bombings, much like Tuesday's, have lessened in frequency since 2017. However, scattered attacks, usually targeted at the civilian population and security forces, continued, Yahoo! News reported.
Just on Sunday, at least three people died after an explosion in a market in the southwestern city of Quetta. Explosives were found planted in a motorcycle in the area.
The armed separatist group of the ethnic Balochs, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), claimed the attack on the religious school on Tuesday. The group is said to be demanding independence for the Balochistan province from which it operates.
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