A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday. More than 150 people are injured. During the night, rescue workers continue their work - and recover more bodies. The number of victims rises to 89.
After the attack on a mosque inside a police headquarters in Pakistan, the death toll has risen to more than 80. At least 89 people were killed, the rescue workers said in Peshawar in the north-west of the country. More bodies were recovered from the rubble of the mosque overnight. About 150 people were also injured in the explosion.
The attack was carried out during afternoon prayers at the mosque in the city near the Afghan border on Monday. At first no one claimed responsibility for the crime. The victims are mainly police officers. Peshawar's police headquarters is one of the most heavily secured places in the metropolis. The building also houses offices of the secret service and anti-terrorist forces.
In recent months there have been repeated attacks in Peshawar, particularly on security forces. The Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia is active in the region. In March 2022, an IS suicide bomber carried out an attack on a mosque belonging to the Shiite minority in Peshawar, killing 64 people. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2018.
The Pakistani branch of the radical Islamic Taliban, which operates under the name Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is also active in the region. The radical Sunni group is not affiliated with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, but the two share common roots. In Peshawar, TTP fighters carried out a massacre in 2014: They raided a school looking for children of army personnel and killed almost 150 people, most of whom were schoolchildren.
In the years that followed, the security situation in Peshawar initially improved significantly. The TTP, founded in 2007, regained strength after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. In the past year, she has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Pakistan, most of which were aimed at security forces. A month-long ceasefire between the TTP and the Pakistani government expired in November.
