At least 95 people die in an attack on the mosque of a Pakistani police headquarters. The police are now assuming a "targeted act of revenge" against security forces. They are on the front line in the fight against extremists.
According to the police, the suicide attack on a mosque in north-west Pakistan was a "targeted act of revenge" against the security forces. According to the latest information, at least 95 people were killed in the attack in the mosque on the premises of the police headquarters in Peshawar. 221 other people were injured, said Regional Minister Muhammad Azam Khan.
Rescue workers want to remove the last part of the mosque's collapsed roof, but had little hope of finding any more survivors. In the mosque, 300 to 400 police officers were praying in the afternoon when a suicide bomber blew himself up. According to the police, the assassin came to the mosque as a guest and had ten to twelve kilograms of explosives with him. "The aim was to demoralize us as security forces," said Peshawar Police Chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan. "We are at the forefront of the fight against extremists and that's why we became a target."
The police headquarters in the city, which is close to the Afghan border, is one of the most heavily secured places in the metropolis. The building houses the secret service and anti-terrorist offices. In recent months there have been repeated attacks in Peshawar, particularly on security forces.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Both the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia and the Pakistani branch of the radical Islamic Taliban, which operates under the name Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are active in the region. The TTP has denied responsibility for the attack in a statement. According to the authorities, a group that temporarily works with the TTP could be behind the attack.
