By RIAZ KHAN (Associated Press)
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The loss of life toll from earlier day’s suicide bombing at a mosque in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday jumped to 74 after rescuers retrieved 15 extra our bodies from the rubble, police and rescue official mentioned.
Bilal Faizi, the chief rescue official, mentioned they had been nonetheless eradicating the rubble after the mosque’s roof caved following the assault.
He mentioned the bombing within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar additionally wounded greater than 150 folks. It was not clear how the bomber was capable of slip into the walled compound in a high-security zone with different authorities buildings.
Also, on Tuesday mourners had been burying the bombing victims at completely different graveyards in Peshawar and elsewhere.
Sarbakaf Mohmand, a commander for the Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, claimed duty for the assault in a submit on Twitter.
But hours later, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani distanced the group from the bombing, saying it was not its coverage to focus on mosques, seminaries and non secular locations, including that these collaborating in such acts might face punitive motion beneath TTP’s coverage. His assertion didn’t tackle why a TTP commander had claimed duty for the bombing.
“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan,” tweeted Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who visited the wounded in Peshawar and vowed “stern action” towards these behind the bombing. He expressed his condolences to households of the victims, saying their ache ”can’t be described in phrases.”
Pakistan, which is generally Sunni Muslim, has seen a surge in militant assaults since November, when the Pakistani Taliban ended their cease-fire with authorities forces.
Earlier this month, the Pakistani Taliban claimed one in all its members shot and killed two intelligence officers, together with the director of the counterterrorism wing of the nation’s military-based spy company Inter-Services Intelligence. Security officers mentioned Monday the gunman was traced and killed in a shootout within the northwest close to the Afghan border.
The TTP is separate from however a detailed ally of the Afghan Taliban. The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan prior to now 15 years, searching for stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines, the discharge of its members in authorities custody and a discount within the Pakistani army presence in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province it has lengthy used as its base.
Monday’s assault on a Sunni mosque contained in the police facility was one of many deadliest assaults on safety forces lately.
More than 300 worshippers had been praying within the mosque, with extra approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest. Many had been injured when the roof got here down, in accordance with Zafar Khan, a police officer, and rescuers needed to take away mounds of particles to succeed in worshippers nonetheless trapped beneath the rubble.
Meena Gul, who was within the mosque when the bomb went off, mentioned he doesn’t understand how he survived unharmed. The 38-year-old police officer mentioned he heard cries and screams after the blast.
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the place the Pakistani Taliban have a powerful presence, and town has been the scene of frequent militant assaults.
The Afghan Taliban seized energy in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops pulled in another country after 20 years of warfare.
The Pakistani authorities’s truce with the TTP ended because the nation was nonetheless contending with unprecedented flooding that killed 1,739 folks, destroyed greater than 2 million properties, and at one level submerged as a lot as a 3rd of the nation.022.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry mentioned in an announcement that it was “saddened to learn that numerous people lost their lives and many others were injured by an explosion at a mosque in Peshawar” and condemned assaults on worshippers as opposite to the teachings of Islam.
Condemnations additionally got here from the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, in addition to the U.S. Embassy, including that “The United States stands with Pakistan in condemning all forms of terrorism.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres referred to as the bombing “particularly abhorrent” for concentrating on a spot of worship, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric mentioned.
Cash-strapped Pakistan faces a extreme financial disaster and is searching for an important installment of $1.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund — a part of its $6 billion bailout bundle — to keep away from default. Talks with the IMF on reviving the bailout have stalled prior to now months.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan referred to as the bombing a “terrorist suicide attack.” He tweeted: “My prayers & condolences go to victims families. It is imperative we improve our intelligence gathering & properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism.”
Sharif’s authorities got here to energy in April after Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament. Khan has since campaigned for early elections, claiming his ouster was unlawful and a part of a plot backed by the United States. Washington and Sharif dismiss Khan’s claims.
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Associated Press author Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”