Rescue teams on Tuesday recovered the severed head of a suspected suicide bomber who they believe blew himself up inside a packed mosque during Monday afternoon prayers in the high-security zone in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Pakistan.
The death toll from the bomb blast rose to 93, with 221 people seriously injured, police officials said, even as rescue operations continued to recover the remaining bodies from the rubble.
The powerful explosion occurred inside the mosque in the area of the police lines at around 1:40 p.m. when worshipers, which included personnel from the police, army and bomb disposal squad, were offering the Zuhr prayers ( late).
The suicide bomber who was present in the front row blew himself up, causing the ceiling to collapse on worshipers, authorities said.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Peshawar Mohammad Aijaz Khan told Geo TV that the blast appeared to be a suicide attack and the suspected attacker’s head was recovered at the site in Peshawar, the capital of Peshawar province. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“It is possible that the attacker was already present in the Police Lines before the explosion and that he could have used an official vehicle [to enter]he said as quoted by Geo TV.
Khan added that the exact nature of the explosion will be known once the rescue operation is over.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s acting Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan on Tuesday announced a day of mourning in the province following the attack.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, saying it was part of a revenge attack for slain TTP commander Umar Khalid Khurasani, who was killed in Afghanistan. last August.
A police official said that a part of the mosque collapsed and several people were believed to be below.
The TTP, created as an umbrella group of various militant groups in 2007, called off a ceasefire with the federal government and ordered its militants to carry out terror attacks across the country.
The group, believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks in Pakistan, including a 2009 attack on army headquarters, attacks on military bases and the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing. in Islamabad.
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School (APS) in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students.
The attack has shocked the world and was widely condemned.