Suicide bomber kills 16 at mosque
PM Sharif condemns bombing that took place in the village of Butmaina
Asuicide bomber killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others as they attended Friday prayers at a mosque in a northwestern Pakistani tribal area, officials said.
The bombing took place in the village of Butmaina in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting against Taliban militants.
“The Friday prayer was in progress at the mosque when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the main room killing at least 16 worshippers and wounding 35 others,” a tribal administration official said.
“The area is remote and so far I have received only this information from our sources via wireless,” he said, adding a curfew had since been imposed. Another local official confirmed the information.
The assault was later condemned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose office released a statement that said: “The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government’s resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban routinely attack soft targets such as courts, schools and mosques.
On September 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan in an assault targeting Pakistan’s legal community that was claimed by the Jamaat-ulAhrar Taliban faction.
Deadly attacks
The group has also said it was behind an attack on lawyers in southwest Quetta, which killed 73 people on August 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 in Pakistan’s deadliest attack this year.
Pakistan’s deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children.
The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas.