PESHAWAR: An explosion in a mosque and madrassa (religious seminary) in the city of Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, on Tuesday left at least eight dead and more than 110 injured, several of them children.
The blast took place around 8.30 am local time at the Speen (white) Jamaat mosque, which also serves as a religious school called Jamia Zubairia Madrassa, for the local community in the city’s Dir Colony.
“The students, including many adults, were studying the Koran when the explosion happened,” Peshawar Police Chief Muhammad Ali Khan told reporters at the scene.
Shafqat Malik, head of the provincial police’s bomb disposal unit, said the device used had a sophisticated design and involved a programmed detonation. “The forensic evidence that we have collected shows that around 5 kg of explosives were detonated through a timed device,” Malik said. “It appears to be a high-quality device, which appears to use TNT. There has been a lot of damage and this attack was carried out after proper planning, ”he added.
Peshawar, near the Afghan border, has witnessed some of the worst incidents of violence during the Taliban insurgency in recent years. The latest attack broke the period of relative calm. No group has taken responsibility for the attack.
According to the seminary’s administration, more than 1,000 students are enrolled in the madrasah and nearly 130 people were inside the prayer hall at the time of the blast. Most of the victims are children and teachers.
A witness told police that he saw a man who entered the building with a suspicious bag shortly before the explosion.
Images from inside the prayer room showed significant damage.
Television footage from the scene showed smoke, blood-stained clothing, torn pieces of meat, broken windows, prayer hats and debris scattered on the ground.
Most of the injured were taken to the nearby Lady. Reading hospital where at least seven were described as critical. Hospital officials confirmed they had received at least seven bodies and more than 85 wounded. Another 36 were transferred to the Naseerullah Babar Memorial Hospital, while two of each were transferred to Khyber University Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex. Many of the injured were severely burned.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, who visited the blast site, said the government’s main focus was to provide the injured with the best possible treatment to increase their chances of recovery.
Condemning the incident, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran khan He expressed his regret for the loss of life and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
Pakistan has fought the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or the Pakistani Taliban, since 2007, when the group was formed and dominated several districts, carrying out frequent attacks on civilian and security targets throughout Pakistan. Later on Tuesday, the Pakistani Taliban issued a statement denying their involvement in the attack and calling the attacks against students reprehensible.
Six years ago, the TTP stormed the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, killing more than 150 people, nearly 140 of them children. The APS attack had prompted the military to launch an offensive to clear militant sanctuaries along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and in 2016 the military claimed to have cleaned up the region.
Recent media reports suggested that the Pakistani Taliban have been regrouping in areas that had been cleared. Several attacks have been reported, mainly against members of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a Pashtun nationalist movement that accuses the military of protecting and supporting militants. The PTM also accuses the army of widespread human rights abuses.
Islamist militants have long been viewed by Kabul, Washington, New Delhi, and some analysts as representatives of the Pakistani security system, working to advance their strategic goals in the region.
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