At least 59 dead in mosque explosion

At least 59 people were killed and more than 150 injured in a suicide bombing at a mosque in north-west Pakistan. This was announced by a spokesman for the authorities. A suicide bomber blew himself up at the church, which was located inside a police compound in Peshawar. Most of the victims were police officers. It was unclear how the attacker got into the walled police compound in a high-security zone with other government buildings.

A Pakistani Taliban commander, Sarbakaf Mohmand, said on Twitter that his group had carried out the attack. Visiting wounded in Peshawar, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on Twitter: "The sheer scale of this human tragedy is unimaginable. This is nothing short of an attack on Pakistan.”

It was one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in Pakistan in recent years. According to the police, the suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest when believers were praying in the Sunni church. The roof of the mosque collapsed in the blast, police officer Zafar Khan said. Many were buried under the rubble and injured. According to the police, more than 300 people were praying in the mosque at the time of the attack, and others were flocking there.

Police officer Siddique Khan said the assassin blew himself up amidst the worshipers. A nearby hospital said many of the injured were in critical condition.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, have been waging an insurgency for the past 15 years in an attempt to gain greater enforcement of Islamic law in the country. They are also calling for the release of imprisoned members and a reduction in the military presence in former tribal regions.

Taliban commander Mohmand said the act was in retaliation for the August 2022 killing of Abdul Wali, known as Omar Khalid Khurasani, in Afghanistan's Paktika province.