PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities were scrambling on Tuesday to figure out how a suicide bomber could carry out one of the country’s deadliest militant attacks in years, exploding in a crowded mosque inside a heavily fortified police compound in Peshawar. The death toll from the explosion has risen to 100.
At least 225 people were hurt in the bombing on Monday morning, which made officials worry about a major security breach at a time when the Pakistani Taliban, the main anti-government militant group, has been stepping up attacks, especially on police and the military.
Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said that the Pakistani Taliban, also known by their acronym TTP, attacked a televised speech to parliament on Tuesday. He said that they were running their operations from Afghan territory next door and asked the Afghan Taliban to do something about them. At first, a TTP commander took the blame, but later, a TTP spokesman distanced the group from the violence by saying that it was not the TTP’s policy to attack mosques.
Officials said the bomber detonated his explosives vest as more than 300 worshippers were praying in the Sunni mosque, with more on their way. According to Zafar Khan, a police officer, the blast blew off part of the roof, and what was left caved in, injuring many more.
Rescuers worked all night and into Tuesday morning to clear away piles of rubble so they could reach worshippers who were stuck under it. The death toll rose as more bodies were discovered, and several critically injured people died, according to Mohammad Asim, a government hospital spokesman in Peshawar.
According to him, the majority of the victims were police officers.
Pakistan Police Are Looking Into How The Bomber Got Inside
Police are looking into how the bomber got into the mosque inside a walled-off police headquarters compound called Police Lines. The compound is in Peshawar’s high-security district, which houses other government buildings.
“Yes, it was a security lapse,” said Ghulam Ali, the provincial governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar’s capital.
Former regional interior secretary Akhtar Ali Shah, based in Peshawar then, said the attack “was not a spur-of-the-moment attack.”
“It was the work of a well-organized group,” he said, according to The Associated Press. He said that the people who did the attack needed help from insiders to get into the compound and that they probably went in there more than once to keep an eye on things or to put bombs there ahead of time.
“It’s a security breach, not a security lapse,” he explained. “There are multiple layers of security you must cross from all entry points,” with ID checks.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told parliament that investigators believe the bomber was assisted by someone from the families of government employees who live in the compound near the mosque. He stated that 97 of the 100 people killed were police officers and that 27 officers were still in critical condition.
97 Of The 100 People Were Police Officers
The military’s media wing turned down an interview request for the chief of army staff. Asim Munir, who took office in November, has yet to appear in the media.
The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s provincial secretary-general, Kamran Bangash, blamed the insecurity on Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government.
“The government has failed to improve the economy and law and order situation,” he said, adding that it should resign to pave the way for snap parliamentary elections. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the party’s leader, condemned the attack.
Pakistan is in the middle of a political and economic crisis because of a disputed election and floods last summer that killed 1,739 people, destroyed more than 2 million homes, and flooded up to a third of the country. The bombing happened at the same time.
After the bombing, Sharif went to a hospital in Peshawar and said that those who did it would face “stern action.” He dismissed criticism of his government on Tuesday and called for unity. “My message to all political forces is unity in the face of anti-Pakistan elements. “We can fight our political battles later,” he said on Twitter.
In a tweet shortly after the explosion, Pakistan Taliban commander Sarbakaf Mohmand claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban Has Not Taken Responsibility
Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the TTP, said a few hours later that it was not the group’s policy to attack mosques, seminaries, and other religious sites, and that anyone who did so could be punished by TTP policy. He did not explain why a TTP commander claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Pakistan, predominantly Sunni Muslim, has seen an increase in militant attacks since the Pakistani Taliban brokered a cease-fire with government forces in November.
The Pakistani Taliban are the main group of militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and Peshawar has been attacked many times.attacks. In 2014, a Pakistani Taliban faction attacked an army-run school in Peshawar, killing 154 people, most of whom were children.
However, in recent years, the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, a regional affiliate of the Islamic State group and a rival of the Taliban, has been behind deadly attacks in Pakistan. Overall, violence has increased since the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country after 20 years of war.
So Many Lives Lost
The TTP is distinct from but close to, the Afghan Taliban. It has been fighting an insurgency in Pakistan for the past 15 years, demanding stricter enforcement of Islamic laws, the release of its members detained by the government, and a reduction in Pakistani military presence in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where it has long been based.
Earlier this month, the Pakistani Taliban claimed that one of its members shot and killed two intelligence officers, including the director of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency’s counterterrorism wing. According to security officials, the gunman was killed in a shootout near the Afghan border.
The Taliban-run Afghan Foreign Ministry expressed “sadness” that “numerous people lost their lives” in Peshawar and condemned attacks on worshippers contrary to Islamic teachings.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in the Middle East, tweeted his condolences, calling the Peshawar bombing a “horrific attack.”
“Terrorism for any reason and in any location is indefensible,” he said.
SOURCE – (AP)
