On Monday, a suicide bomber detonated himself inside a packed mosque in a well-secured security compound in Pakistan, killing 59 people, including 27 police officials. This was the most recent in a series of attacks against the police.
The assailant appears to have breached multiple barricades guarded by security personnel in order to enter the "Red Zone" area, which contains police and counter-terrorism offices in the turbulent city of Peshawar in Pakistan's northwestern region.
Pakistan Mosque Attack
"It was a suicide bombing," Ijaz Khan, chief of police in Peshawar, told Reuters. According to him, there were as many as 400 attendees in the mosque at the time of the attack, and many of the 170 injured were in severe condition.
Mohammad Asim, a hospital administrator, said in a statement that the death toll increased to 59 after additional victims died of their injuries. Police said that 27 of the deceased were officers.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organization including Sunni and sectarian insurgent organizations, denied responsibility. The bomber exploded his cargo as hundreds of people waited up to pray, according to officials.
An investigation was underway to determine how the assailant broke such an elite security perimeter and whether he had assistance from within. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, which was the deadliest in Peshawar since an Islamic State suicide bombing at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque during Friday prayers killed at least 58 people in March 2022.
Peshawar, which straddles the border between Pakistan's tribal areas and Afghanistan's Taliban-controlled territory, is regularly attacked by Islamist terrorist organizations such as Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban.
Emergency services are currently engaged in a desperate rescue operation at the mosque, searching for survivors among the wreckage. As the rescue operation progressed, bloodied survivors emerged staggering from the debris, as remains were transported away in ambulances.
Witnesses reported chaotic scenes as the police and rescuers rushed the injured to hospitals. According to security sources, the bomber sat in the front row of the mosque as worshippers lined up to pray.
Per Daily Mail, it is unclear how the assailant gained access to the walled enclosure, which houses the police headquarters for the city of Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest and is located in a high-security zone alongside other government facilities.
The provincial governor, Haji Ghulam Ali, stated that the number of individuals still trapped under the debris is unknown. Several of the injured were classified as being in severe condition at a hospital, and there were worries that the death toll may grow.
Meena Gul, a 38-year-old police officer, was reportedly inside the mosque when the device detonated. He stated that he had no idea how he escaped unharmed. Gul stated that he could hear cries and screams when the device detonated. Shahid Ali, a surviving police officer, reported that the explosion occurred within seconds after the imam began prayers.
The incident shattered a period of relative calm in Peshawar, the seat of the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province in northwest Pakistan. In recent months, the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for a number of strikes against police and military targets in the country's northwest, particularly in border regions bordering Afghanistan.
On Monday, the group denied involvement in this incident. Earlier, though, some subordinate commanders of the group claimed on Twitter that the attack was carried out in retaliation for the August strike in Afghanistan that killed a Taliban senior. No other group claimed responsibility.
According to hospital officials, the hospital was placed on high alert, extra medical personnel was brought in, and citizens were requested to give blood to the injured. The capital, Islamabad, was placed on high alert, with snipers deployed on key government buildings and checks on routes leading into the city strengthened.
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Pakistan Police Killings
In the 1980s, Peshawar became one of the most important staging areas for local and foreign rebels against the Soviet-backed Afghan government over the border. In addition, a considerable number of Afghan refugees fled to the city.
Throughout the last several decades, a spate of terrorist assaults targeting local government buildings and retail districts has left the city scarred. In December 2014, Taliban terrorists assaulted an army-run public school and slaughtered 147 children and instructors, constituting the country's most horrific terrorist incident.
According to NY Times, this incident sent significant shockwaves throughout the nation and turned many members of the public against the insurgents. In March 2022, the most recent terrorist assault in Peshawar was a suicide bombing that struck a mosque and killed over sixty people.
Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the regional offshoot of the Islamic State, claimed responsibility. The Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban are distinct organizations, but they share similar doctrinal and religious convictions. In recent years, a number of Pakistani Taliban commanders have sought refuge in Afghanistan.
A peace agreement between the Pakistani Taliban and Pakistan's government collapsed last year, and the Pakistani Taliban's comeback has strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The peace negotiations in 2021 were launched by the then-prime minister, Imran Khan, whose administration let many rebels return from Afghanistan and resettle in Pakistan provided they committed to lay down their guns.
Khan, who was removed from the cabinet last year, has been making a determined campaign to reclaim his position. His detractors asserted that the peace negotiations allowed the insurgents to regroup and strengthen themselves.
In Pakistan, rights groups asked the government to take action against extremist groups. Recent assaults in the region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have primarily targeted police officers. According to police records, 118 employees were murdered in terrorist strikes in the province in 2022.
The latest increase in violence coincides with Sharif's efforts to revitalize Pakistan's faltering economy. The Pakistani rupee reached its lowest level against the dollar last week, and the government was compelled to raise petroleum prices dramatically on Sunday in order to receive a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF has exerted pressure on the Pakistani government to reduce government subsidies and make other adjustments to the economic structure.
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