PAKISTAN BOMBING RAISES SECURITY FEARS; 100 DEAD

Pakistani authorities scrambled on Tuesday to determine how a suicide bomber was able to carry out one of the country’s deadliest militant attacks in years, unleashing an explosion in a crowded mosque inside a highly secured police compound in the city of Peshawar. The death toll from the blast climbed to 100.

Monday morning’s bombing, which left at least 225 wounded, raised alarm among officials over a major security breach at a time when the Pakistani Taliban, the main antigovernment militant group, has stepped up attacks, particularly targeting the police and the military.

In a televised speech to parliament Tuesday, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif accused the Pakistani Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, of carrying out the attack. A TTP commander earlier claimed responsibility, but a spokesperson for the group later distanced the TTP from the carnage, saying it was not its policy to attack mosques.

Most of the victims were police officers, officials said.

Counter-terrorism police are investigating how the bomber was able to reach the mosque, which is inside a walled-off police headquarters compound called Police Lines. The compound is in a heavy-security district of Peshawar that includes other government buildings.

“Yes, it was a security lapse,” said Ghulam Ali, the provincial governor in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital.

Akhtar Ali Shah, a former regional interior secretary once based in Peshawar, said it “was not a spur of the moment attack.”

“It was the handiwork of a well-organized group,” he told The Associated Press. He said those behind the attack must have had inside help to gain access to the compound and probably entered it several times for reconnaissance or even to plant explosives.

“It’s not a security lapse, it’s a security breach,” he said. “From all entry points, there are multiple layers of security you have to cross” with ID checks.