ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The death toll in Monday's suicide bomb blast in a mosque
in Peshawar in north-west Pakistan reached 100 on Tuesday as 15 bodies were recovered
from the mounds of debris. Over 150 others were also injured. The roof had collapsed
on about 300 worshippers praying in the hall at the time. The suicide bomber had sneaked in wearing police uniform.
Located in the midst of a host of law enforcement and army establishments,
most of those killed were police and security personnel who usually attend the
prayers there. Even the police headquarters is close by. The blast took place
in the afternoon when prayers were going on. The police were the likely target.
The Sunni mosque compound is walled and the place is a high-security zone.
Pakistan is Sunni Muslim majority.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), known as Pakistani Taliban, claiming responsibility
for the blast, said that it was a “revenge” for the death of TTP militant Khalid
Khorasani last year.
However, a spokesman for the TTP, Muhammad Khorasani, has denied any involvement
in the attack, according to CNN. “Regarding the Peshawar incident, we consider
it necessary to clarify that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has nothing to do with
this incident. According to our laws and general constitution, any action in
mosques, madrasas, funerals grounds and other sacred places is an offence,”
Khorasani said in a statement late Monday.
Peshawar is the Capital of the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near
the border with Afghanistan. The TTP is a terrorist organization operating in
Pakistan, and is apart from Afghan Taliban which currently rules Afghanistan.
It has been waging insurgency along Pak border areas for the last 15 years.
“The brutal killing of Muslims prostrating before Allah is against the teachings
of the Quran... “Targeting the House of Allah is proof that the attackers have
nothing to do with Islam,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement.
He visited Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar to meet those injured. The sheer
scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable, he said.
A Shia mosque in Peshawar was attacked last March by the Islamic State (IS),
killing 61 people.
