Islamabad, Pakistan.- A suicide attack on a mosque in a police and government compound in northwest Pakistan exposed “security gaps,” officials said Tuesday. The death toll exceeded one hundred.
The bombing, which ripped through a Sunni mosque inside a major police compound in the city of Peshawar, was one of the deadliest attacks against Pakistani security forces in recent years. It left up to 225 injured, some still hospitalized in serious condition, according to Kashif Aftab Abbasi, a police officer in Peshawar.
More than 300 people were praying at the mosque and others were on their way when the assailant detonated his explosive vest Monday morning. The explosion ripped through the mosque, leaving dozens dead and injured and blew off part of the roof.
Then what was left of the roof collapsed, injuring many more. Rescuers had to remove piles of rubble to reach the trapped people.
More bodies were removed from the remains of the mosque Monday night and early Tuesday morning, and several of the seriously injured died. “Most of them were police officers,” Asim said of the victims.
Bilal Faizi, director of the rescue office, said crews were still removing rubble because it was believed that people were still trapped. Mourners began burying the victims of the attack on Tuesday in various cemeteries in Peshawar and elsewhere.
Anti-terrorism police were investigating how the assailant was able to gain access to the mosque, which is in a walled complex and in a high-security area with other government buildings.
“Yes, it was a security breach,” said Ghulam Ali, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has Peshawar as its capital. Abbasi, the official who gave the latest casualty figures, agreed.
“There was a security breach and the inspector general of Police has formed an investigative committee, which will look into all aspects of the attack, he said. “Action will be taken against those whose negligence allowed the incident.”
Talat Masood, a retired army general and leading security analyst, said Monday’s attack showed “negligence.”
Shortly after Monday’s blast, Sarbakaf Mohmand, a TTP commander, claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter. But hours later, the group’s spokesman, Mohammad Khurasani, distanced the TTP from what happened, stating that they do not attack religious places and that those who participate in such acts would be punished under the rules of the armed group.
His statement did not mention why a TTP commander previously claimed responsibility for the attack.
The militant group is a separate but affiliated branch of the Afghan Taliban. The TTP has been waging an insurgency in Pakistan for 15 years. It seeks to establish a strict regime of Islamic law in the country, the release of its detained members and a reduction of the Pakistani military presence in the regions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that it occupies as its base.
Pakistan, with a majority Sunni Muslims, has seen an increase in militant attacks since November, when the Pakistani Taliban ended their ceasefire with government forces.
