Death toll rises in Pakistani mosque attack
The number of people who lost their lives in the suicide attack on a mosque in Pakistan’s Khaybar Pakhtunkhwa province during midday prayer yesterday has risen to 100.
Search and rescue operations began yesterday after the suicide attack on the mosque in the police line district of the Peshawar city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was completed during the midday prayer, according to Geo News television news. Authorities said the number of people who lost their lives in the suicide attack had risen to 100, and treatment of 225 wounded continues.
Stating that the attack took place yesterday at 1:00 p.m. local time, the authorities announced that the attacker, who was in the front row of the mosque, detonated the bomb.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government announced a statewide day of mourning. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Gulam Ali said how the terrorist entered the mosque with the bomb will become clear as a result of investigations. Ali confirmed that it was a security vulnerability.
Mohammad Asim, spokesman for a hospital in Peshawar, announced that most of those who lost their lives today were policemen who were seriously injured in the attack.
CALL TO THE PRIME MINISTER’S UNITY
In a statement on Twitter, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif claimed that the terrorists want to sow fear and paranoia among the people with their despicable actions, calling on all political forces to put politics aside and unite against anti-Pakistani elements. .
Pakistani Taliban (TTP) spokesman Mohammad Khorasani, on the other hand, stayed away from statements that the action was carried out by the organization. In his statement, Khorasani did not refer to the statements made by one of the TTP commanders, Sarbakaf Mohmand, about his responsibility for the attack.
Sarbakaf Mohmand, one of the TTP commanders, announced yesterday that he took responsibility for the attack on his social media accounts. Mohmand announced that the attack was carried out to avenge Abdul Wali Mohmand, known as Omar Khalid Khorasani, one of the top TTP commanders, who was killed in Afghanistan in August 2022.
TTP, which has recently increased its attacks, announced on social media on November 28, 2022 that the ceasefire initiated with the Islamabad administration on May 10, 2022 had ended and that it had ordered its members to attack the forces security across the country. Pakistan considers TTP a terrorist organization.
According to data shared by the Islamabad-based Center for Security Studies and Research, 601 people, including 290 members of the security forces and 311 civilians, were killed and 741 injured in 506 terror attacks in Pakistan in 2022.
Most of the attacks were carried out in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Organizations such as TTP, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and DAESH/H claimed responsibility for most of these attacks.
Terror attacks in Pakistan in 2022 increased by 15 percent compared to the previous year. (AA)