56 people died and dozens were injured in a suicide bombing occurred inside a mosque near a police headquarters in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Sources say the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack in a tweet, which the Pakistani authorities have not commented on until now. “We are receiving more bodies,” said a spokesman for a Peshawar hospital, Muhammad Asim Khan. “So far, we have 17 bodies and more than 80 wounded.” Police have raised a state of security alert in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, following the blast.
According to security officials, the bomber was present in front row during prayer when it blew up, injuring dozens of worshipers as they performed midday prayers. A medical official said most of those killed in the blast were policemen. In the first reaction to the attack, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned what he called the “terrorist attack” on the Peshawar mosque during prayers.
This bombing comes in one moment in which the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) have intensified their bombing in Pakistan after efforts at peaceful talks and a ceasefire between them and the Pakistani government failed.
