Pakistan: an explosion in a mosque in Peshawar kills many people
Pakistan: an explosion in a mosque in Peshawar, in the north-west of the country this Monday, January 30, killed at least twenty people and left many injured.
AFP - MAAZ ALI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
At least 25 people were killed and 120 others injured in an explosion Monday at a mosque inside the police headquarters in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan.
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"
Right now, our number one priority is to save people trapped under the rubble
," Shaffiullah Khan, a senior administrative official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, told Agence France Presse.
The explosion was very powerful, says a resident of Peshawar, joined by our correspondent,
Sonia Ghezali
.
The explosion occurred around 1:40 p.m., during the afternoon prayer.
Many worshipers were praying when it sounded.
According to some security sources, a suicide bomber who was in the front row of the mosque triggered his charge while the prayer was in progress.
An investigation has been opened to verify this initial information.
An entire wall of the religious building collapsed… Videos broadcast on social networks reveal the prayer hall covered in debris, the carpet on the floor stained with blood….
Wounded, bleeding bodies, were evacuated in vans.
The targeted mosque is in a very secure area of the city, a few meters from the house of the governor, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkwa province.
Many members of the security forces are believed to be among the victims, the mosque being frequented by many police and soldiers stationed in the area.
There are no claims yet, but suspicion of such attacks often falls on the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), the Pakistani Taliban, who are often behind similar attacks.
They are a different group from the Afghan Taliban, but the TTP is their ally, and since the Afghan Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the TTP has intensified its attacks in Pakistan.
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