Maaz Ali—AFP
A suspected suicide bombing inside a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines area on Monday killed at least 93 people and injured over 221 others, as lawmakers across the political divide condemned the incident and reiterated vows to eradicate terrorism.
Security officials told media that the suspected suicide bomber had been standing in the front row during Zuhr prayers when he detonated his explosives around 1:40 p.m. The explosion, they said, had massively damaged the mosque building, with its roof collapsing on several congregants. “This morning we are going to remove the last part of the collapsed roof so we can recover more bodies, but we are not hopeful of reaching any survivors,” Bilal Ahmad Faizi, a spokesperson for the 1122 rescue organization told the AFP news agency. Overnight, per rescue workers, at least nine bodies were recovered as they sifted through the rubble of the mosque’s collapsed wall and roof.
According to local media, the mosque at Police Lines is located in a high-security area and the bombing is being seen as a massive breach of security. In addition to police, Army personnel and bomb disposal squad personnel were also present during the prayers. Police said the mosque was almost at capacity at the time of the blast, adding that initial investigations suggested 300 people or more might have been present within the premises.
At least 20 of the slain police officers were buried later on Monday after a prayer ceremony, with coffins lined up in rows and draped in the Pakistan flag. They were laid to rest with a guard of honor, a police official told AFP. Shahid Ali, a policeman who survived, said the explosion took place seconds after the imam started prayers. “I saw black smoke rising to the sky. I ran out to save my life,” the 47-year-old told AFP.
After the blast—the worst to hit Peshawar since a Shia mosque was targeted in March 2022 and left 63 dead and nearly 200 others injured—a state of emergency was declared in all hospitals of Peshawar, with all major political parties appealing to their workers to donate blood to prevent further casualties. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital’s Lady Reading Hospital said at least 10 people remained in critical condition and feared the death toll could still rise.
Provinces around the country announced they were on high alert after the blast, with checkpoints ramped up and extra security forces deployed, while in the capital Islamabad, snipers were deployed on buildings and at city entrance points.
A commander of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, describing it as revenge for the killing of Khalid Khorasani. However, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani later retracted this claim, but did not explain why one of its commanders had accepted responsibility.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blast and said the attackers responsible had “nothing to do with Islam.” Emphasizing that terrorists wanted to sow fear by targeting people tasked with defending Pakistan, he paid tribute to all martyrs and promised that their sacrifices would not go in vain. “The entire nation is standing united against the menace of terrorism,” he said, adding a comprehensive strategy would be chalked out to counter deteriorating law and order in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Later, he visited the injured in Peshawar alongside Pakistan Army chief Gen. Asim Munir and was briefed on various aspects of the staff.
Condemning the attack, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan offered his condolences to the families of the victims. “It is imperative we improve our intelligence gathering and properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism,” he wrote in a posting on Twitter.
Similarly, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal denounced the attack as the “worst form of” terrorism. “The aim of such brutal and cowardly attacks is to weaken the nation’s resolve against terrorism, but this resolve will be strengthened by every drop of blood and martyrdom,” he wrote on Twitter.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, while condemning the attack, said that “terrorist incidents before the local and general elections were meaningful.” Former president, and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Asif Ali Zardari also said terrorists once again becoming active in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was an “extremely dangerous” development. “The government should destroy the nurseries of terrorism by following the National Action Plan,” he said, adding that incidents of terrorism ahead of by-elections and general elections was a serious cause for concern.