Reuters – Peshawar:
At least 32 people have been killed and around 150 others injured in a suicide bombing targeting a mosque in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan.
Police said the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber who was in the front rows during afternoon prayers at the mosque located in Peshawar’s “Police Lines” area.
“Part of the building collapsed and several people are feared trapped under the debris,” police officer Sikandar Khan told Reuters. Video clips on social media showed extensive damage to the mosque as a result of the explosion. A Pakistani hospital official told Reuters that most of the dead in the mosque blast were policemen.
So far no one has claimed responsibility for the bomb blast. The blast happened during the afternoon prayer. And it vaporized the mosque’s roof and wall, according to a correspondent for the French press agency, who saw blood pouring from the mosque, wounded men who were damaged, and bodies of the dead being carried away in ambulances.
The fire brigade is running a massive rescue operation. Peshawar police chief Mohammad Ijaz Khan told the agency, “We are looking for more details, but the blast happened during prayers.” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bombing, saying that detonating inside a mosque proved that those involved in the attack “have nothing to do with Islam.” “These terrorists are trying to spread fear by targeting people who are doing their duty to protect Pakistan,” he said. He stressed that the coalition government would take strict action against those involved.