The Pakistani people are mourning a tragic attack on a mosque in the city of Peshawar.
The mosque, used mostly for police and security personnel, was attacked by a suicide bomber on Monday, January 30.
At least 100 people were killed, and hundreds more were injured in the blast after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb while standing in the front row inside the mosque.
The suicide bomber was able to somehow able to get through several security checks manned by officers and enter the “red zone,” an area that houses the country’s counter-terrorism and police offices in Peshawar, a volatile city in northwest Pakistan near the border of Afghanistan.
The mosque was crowded with more than 300 men praying. The explosion wounded about 225 people and most were in critical condition or suffered severe injuries.
At least 100 people have already been declared dead. Most of the victims were police or security officers.
The commander of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Sarbakaf Mohmand, and another member of the TTP, Mukaram Khorasani, initially claimed responsibility on Twitter for the attack. They said the bombing was revenge for the killing of the Taliban group’s commander in Afghanistan in August 2022.
However, a TTP spokesperson, Muhammad Khorasani, denied responsibility for the bombing.
Officials are investigating how the attacker breached the security checks, and whether the group was helped by insiders.
The attack was the worst incident of terrorism in Peshawar since the March 2022 attack in a Shi’ite Muslim mosque by the Islamic State that left at least 58 people dead.
Peshawar is on the border of Afghanistan, which is controlled by the Taliban since US forces pulled out. Militant groups, including the Pakistan Taliban and the Islamic State, have frequently caused violence in the city.
Videos shared on social media show the destruction of the mosque after the bombing. Walls were caved in and the inside of the building was full of debris and broken bricks.
For more than a decade, the TTP has been launching attacks in Pakistan. They are trying to force the government to enforce stricter Islamic laws and reduce military presence in the former tribal regions.
An officer who survived the attack told reporters that as the prayer leader chanted “Allahu Akbar” or “Allah is Great,” the bomb detonated.