Pakistan: Suicide blast in Peshawar mosque kills 32, injures 147

Peshawar: At least 32 people killed and 147 injured after a suicide attacker blew himself up at a busy mosque in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's restive province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday. The blast was reported during the Zuhr or afternoon prayers.

A report by GeoTV quoted security officials saying that the suicide attacker was present in the front row during the Zuhr prayers when he exploded himself in the mosque near near the Police Lines area of Peshawar.

As per DawnNewsTV report, the explosion took place around 1:40 pm on Monday.

One side of the mosque collapsed due to the impact of the explosion. Police say that several people were believed to be under it.

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The area has been cordoned off and emergency has been imposed in the locality as well as hospital in Peshawar where the wounded are being treated.

Injured are being shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. A spokesman of the hospital, Mohammad Asim, said they had received over 90 injured people.

Sources in the hospital said that 13 of those injured were in a critical condition.

Reports quoted police officials at the spot saying that they were determining the nature of the blast. "Deaths were feared," they added.

Pakistani Taliban involvement likely

There is a possibility that Pakistani Taliban may be behind the Peshawar mosque blast as the group has in the past claimed similar bombings.

The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan on 15 August, 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

With inputs from agencies

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