More than 30 people have been killed and about 150 others wounded in an explosion at a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, according to officials.
Authorities said part of the building collapsed and that many people were feared to be trapped under the rubble.
The mosque is located inside a heavily guarded complex that also houses the provincial police force’s headquarters and a counterterrorism division.
The main hall of the mosque had a capacity of about 300 people and was “nearly full” at the time of the explosion, according to Muhammad Ijaz Khan, the chief of police in Peshawar, in a statement that was broadcast on television.
“We cannot at the moment confirm there was a suicide attacker but we need to conduct more investigations,” he said. “However, there is a possibility of there being a suicide bomber.”
Al Jazeera”s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said emerging details suggested that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
“The [bomber was reportedly] sitting in the front row of the congregational prayers inside the mosque,” he added.
Shahid Ali, a policeman who survived the attack, said the explosion took place seconds after the prayers started.
“I saw black smoke rising to the sky. I ran out to save my life,” the 47-year-old told the AFP news agency.
“The screams of the people are still echoing in my mind,” he added. “People were screaming for help.”
The bombing was denounced in a statement by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who also directed officials to provide the bombing victims with the best medical care possible. He pledged to take “stern action” against the perpetrators of the attack.
Pakistan has seen a surge in violence during the last year, with numerous attacks on law enforcement officials, particularly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as the southern province of Balochistan.
In 2022 alone, Pakistan’s monitoring agencies recorded more than 150 attacks across the country by the TTP, which is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban, killing dozens of people.
Authorities fear that the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP and led to its resurgence.
Source: Aljazeera News