Bodies continue to be pulled from the rubble on Tuesday, January 31, after the attack on a mosque inside the police headquarters in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, which killed nearly 90 people. , mostly police, and 150 injured.
The explosion occurred Monday at the time of the noon prayer in this extremely sensitive place in the city, located about fifty kilometers from the border with Afghanistan and where the security situation has deteriorated in recent years. month.
Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told AFP the death toll had risen to 89 after “six additional patients succumbed to their injuries”. About 150 people were injured. Nearly 90% of the dead are police officers, said Muhammad Ijaz Khan, without being able to give an exact count yet.
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Hopes of finding more survivors are dwindling
“This morning we will remove the last part of the collapsed roof so that we can recover more bodies. But we are pessimistic about our chances of finding other survivors.”Bilal Ahmad Faizi, a spokesman for the 1122 emergency number, told AFP.
During the night, at least nine bodies were discovered in the rubble of the mosque, whose roof and a wall collapsed under the effect of the blast of the explosion.
“I was trapped under the debris with the body of a dead man on top of me for seven hours. I had lost all hope of surviving.Wajahat Ali, a 23-year-old police officer, told AFP on Thursday in a hospital.
At least 20 police officers were buried Monday evening in a ceremony with a guard of honor, their coffins lined up and girded with the Pakistani flag, a police official told AFP.
A heavily guarded area
Pakistan has been facing deteriorating security for some months, especially since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021. After several years of relative calm, the attacks have resumed with a vengeance, led by the Pakistani Taliban of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), EI-K, the regional branch of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) , or Baloch separatist groups.
Analysts believe these groups have been emboldened by the success of the Taliban. Pakistan accuses them of letting some of these groups use their Afghan soil to plan their attacks, which Kabul continues to deny.
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The TTP, a movement distinct from that of the new Afghan leaders but which shares common roots with it, denied being responsible for Monday’s attack. After its creation in 2007, the TTP killed tens of thousands of Pakistani civilians and members of the security forces, before being driven out of the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan by a military operation launched by the army in 2014.
Back in force in recent months, the TTP wants to be less brutal than in the past and claims to only target the security forces and in no case places of worship. The police headquarters in Peshawar is one of the best policed areas in the city. It also houses the premises of various intelligence agencies.
“I ran outside to save my life”
Shahid Ali, a 47-year-old policeman who survived the attack, told AFP the detonation came seconds after the imam began the prayer. “I saw black smoke rising in the sky. I ran outside to save my life”he said. “The screams of people still echo in my head. They were screaming for help. »
The capital and the rest of the country, particularly on the border with Afghanistan, have been placed under even heightened security alert.
“The terrorists want to create panic by targeting those who are fulfilling their duty to defend Pakistan”Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement. “Those who fight Pakistan will be wiped off the face of the earth. »
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In New York, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, denounced an attack “abject” against “a place of worship”.
Peshawar was ravaged by near-daily attacks during the first half of the 2010s, but security there had improved greatly in recent years. It has deteriorated again for a few months. In March 2022, a suicide attack claimed by EI-K in a Shiite mosque in Peshawar killed 64 people, the deadliest in Pakistan since 2018.
