The suicide bomber managed to breach the mosque’s tight security and kill 47 people

On Monday, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in a heavily guarded security complex in Pakistan, killing at least 47 people. This was the latest attack by resurgent Islamist militants targeting police in the volatile country. The “Red Zone” The compound in Peshawar, a turbulent city in the northwest of the country, is home to police and counter-terrorism agencies.

Police claimed that the attacker appeared to have gone through many obstacles manned by security guards to enter the compound. Peshawar police chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters, ‘It was a suicide bombing’ He reported at least 47 killed and 176 injured, many of them life-threatening.

It happened the day before a team from the International Monetary Fund was due to arrive in Islamabad to begin negotiations with the government to unlock funding for the South Asian economy, which is currently experiencing a balance of payments crisis. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has spoken out against the violence.

According to reports, the bomber activated its device as hundreds of worshipers lined up to pray. Khan told reporters, ‘We found traces of explosives’ indicating that the bomber had somehow gotten past the safest part of the compound. A probe investigated whether or not the attacker had help from within the elite security cordon.

Read some of the recent news stories we wrote about current events:

Khan claimed that as many as 400 worshipers were present at the mosque that day, with the majority of the dead being police officers. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Peshawar since a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers in March 2022, which killed at least 58 people.

Allah is the Greatest

As Defense Minister Khawaja Asif stated on Geo TV, the bomber was in the front row of worshippers. Mushtaq Khan, one police officer injured in the attack told reporters from his hospital bed, “When the prayer leader said, ‘Allah is the greatest, there was a big bang’,

“We couldn’t figure out what was happening because the bang was deafening. It threw me off the porch. The walls and roof fell on me. Thanks to God he saved me.”

The explosion caused the second floor of the mosque to collapse, trapping dozens of worshipers under the ruins. Live TV showed rescuers descending through the rubble to reach victims trapped on the roof. Haji Ghulam Ali, the governor of the province, commented: “We can’t say how many are still under,”

“The magnitude of human tragedy is unimaginable,” Sharif said.

“This is no less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed with a deep sense of sadness. I have no doubt that terrorism is our number one national security challenge.”

According to eyewitnesses, there was widespread chaos as police and rescuers frantically tried to transport the injured to nearby hospitals. Sharif, who urged his party members to donate blood in hospitals, stated that those who attack Muslims in the midst of their religious practices have nothing to do with Islam.

In a statement, said the US embassy in Pakistan,

“The US mission in Pakistan has expressed its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the horrific attack.”

Peshawar, which lies on the border between Pakistan and the Taliban-ruled tribal provinces of Afghanistan, is routinely attacked by Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest information, you can subscribe to our Twitter feed.