Families seek for family members day after Pakistan mosque blast kills scores

AFP

Distraught relations thronged hospitals in Pakistan’s Peshawar on Tuesday to search for their kin a day after a bombing ripped by way of a crowded mosque in a closely fortified space, killing greater than 100 folks.

The assault, within the Police Lines district, was the deadliest in a decade to hit this restive, northwestern metropolis close to the Afghan border and comes amid a surge in violence concentrating on police.

No group has claimed duty.

At least 170 folks had been wounded within the blast, which demolished the higher storey of the mosque as a whole bunch of worshippers carried out midday prayers.

Riaz Mahsud, a senior native authorities official, stated the casualty toll was prone to rise as employees searched by way of the particles simply over 24 hours later.

Authorities say they have no idea how the bomber managed to breach the army and police checkpoints main into the Police Lines district, a colonial-era, self-contained encampment within the metropolis centre that’s dwelling to middle- and lower-ranking police personnel and their households.

Given the safety issues in Peshawar, the mosque was just lately constructed to permit police to hope with out leaving the world.

Defence minister Khawaja Asif stated the bomber was within the first row within the prayer corridor when he struck.

The assault is the deadliest in Peshawar since twin bombings at All Saints Church killed scores of worshippers in September 2013.

Peshawar sits on the sting of the Pashtun tribal lands, a area mired in violence for the previous 20 years. The most energetic terror group within the space is the Pakistani Taliban, additionally known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The TTP denied duty for Monday’s bombing, although it has stepped up assaults since withdrawing from a peace take care of the federal government final yr.

The bombing passed off a day earlier than an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission arrives in Islamabad for talks on a stalled $7 billion bailout.