Blast rips through police mosque in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 44

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide bombing Monday tore through a crowded mosque at prayer time inside a police compound in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, collapsing the roof and killing at least 44 people and injuring 157, according to hospital officials.

The blast, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever on Pakistani forces, was claimed by two officials of the Pakistani Taliban, an extremist militia that has waged war against the government for years and recently broke off a truce that had been negotiated last summer. It has a close alliance with the Afghan Taliban now ruling Afghanistan, but operates independently.

Two leaders of the group, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter. Umar Mukarram Khorasani, a member of the TTP central leadership council, tweeted that it was “the fourth suicide attack” to avenge the death of another TTP leader, Umar Khalid Khorasani, a founder of the group who was killed in Afghanistan last August. He said more such attacks would follow.

The powerful blast, and the rare infiltration of a suicide bomber into a secured military compound or mosque, aroused concerns that the collapse of the truce in November would unleash a wave of further attacks on military targets. The mosque was surrounded by high walls and located inside a high-security government compound.

The explosion went off during afternoon prayers in the mosque while at least 150 people were inside.

“We were lined up for the afternoon prayer and as the prayer leader said ‘Allahu akbar’ a huge blast took place. Nothing was clear and visible as part of the roof of the mosque collapsed,” police inspector Mushtaq Khan said by telephone from the hospital.

The attackers behind the incident “have nothing to do with Islam,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a statement strongly condemning the blast. “Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan.”

He added that a comprehensive strategy would be adopted to counter the deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital. The federal government will help provinces in increasing their anti-terrorism capacity, Shehbaz said.

The Capital City Police compound in Peshawar is a high-security zone in this provincial capital near the border with Afghanistan and is close to the courts, provincial assembly, army barracks, governor’s house and chief minister’s residence.

The compound includes the headquarters for the counterterrorism and investigations departments.

Past attacks in the northwestern region of Pakistan have been carried out by the country’s own Taliban movement, which is separate from the group now controlling neighboring Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, has conducted nearly 1,800 attacks in the country against both civilians and military targets over the past decade and is believed to have been emboldened by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Initially, however, the Taliban in Afghanistan actually brokered peace talks between the Pakistani group and Islamabad and a cease-fire lasted more than a year until November 2022. Since then the TTP has launched a renewed spate of attacks against security forces throughout the northwest Pakistan region.