Taliban denies bombing Pakistan police mosque

THE Pakistani Taliban have backtracked on claims they were behind a suicide bombing in a police mosque on Monday, as the death toll from the blast reached 100.

Rescuers were still retrieving bodies from under the rubble at the mosque inside a police headquarters yesterday, a day after an explosion brought the roof and walls down on worshippers in one of the worst attacks on security forces in years. All but three of the dead were police.

The Pakistani Taliban denied involvement for the bombing in the restive north-western city of Peshawar, hours after one of its leadership council, Omar Mukarram, took responsibility, calling it a revenge attack.

Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the militants, claimed it was not the group’s policy to target mosques, seminaries and religious sites.

Those attacking such sites could face punitive action, he added.

The Afghan Taliban, a separate organisation which shares close ties and similar views, also condemned the attack. Pakistani security sources speculated the attack had been carried out by a splinter faction.

Michael Kugelman, of the Washington-based Wilson Centre, cautioned against accepting the Taliban’s denials of involvement.

Mukarram leads a faction called Jamaat-ul-ahrar, that is “very much a part of [the Pakistani Taliban] after a brief split some years ago”, he said.

“It’s one of the militants’ most brutal factions and is happy to do things, like attack mosques, that [the Pakistani Taliban] claims it rejects.”