Bomber kills 59 at mosque in Pakistan police compound
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber struck a crowded mosque inside a police compound in Pakistan on Monday, causing the roof to collapse and killing at least 59 people and wounding more than 150 others, officials said.
Most of the casualties were police officers. It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled compound, which houses the police headquarters in the northwestern city of Peshawar and is located in a high-security zone with other government buildings.
Sarbakaf Mohmand, a commander for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which is sepduction arate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter.
But hours later, Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesperson for TTP, distanced the group from the bombing, saying it was not its policy to target mosques, seminaries and religious places, adding that those taking part in such acts could face punitive action under TTP’s policy. His statement did not address why a TTP commander had claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Pakistan, which is mostly Sunni Muslim, has seen a surge in militant attacks since November, when the Pakistani Taliban ended their cease-fire with government forces.
Earlier this month, in another attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, a gunman shot and killed two intelligence officers, including the director of the counterterrorism wing of the country’s military-based spy agency InterServices Intelligence. Security officials said Monday the gunman was traced and killed in a shootout in the northwest near the Afghan border.
Monday’s assault on a Sunni mosque inside the police facility was one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in recent years.
The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan in the past 15 years, seeking stricter enforcement of Islamic laws, the release of its members in government custody and a rein the Pakistani military presence in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province it has long used as its base.
More than 300 worshipers were praying in the mosque, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest.
Many were injured when the roof came down, according to Zafar Khan, a police officer, and rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshipers still trapped under the rubble.
Mohammad Asim, a spokesperson at the main government hospital in Peshawar, put the death toll at 59, with 157 others wounded. Police official Siddique Khan said the bomber blew himself up while among the worshipers.