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Pakistan Mosque Attack Kills 16, Injures Over 50
Confirmed
In Short: A suicide bombing and subsequent gun battle at a mosque in Kohat, Pakistan, killed at least 16 people, including five police officers, and injured over 50.
A suicide bombing and subsequent gun battle at a mosque in Kohat, Pakistan, killed at least 16 people, including five police officers, and injured over 50 during Friday prayers.
The attack occurred when an explosive-laden car was rammed into the entrance of a mosque located at a police headquarters in Kohat, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border.
The mosque was badly damaged, with part of its roof and walls collapsed, and the police station’s outer wall also collapsed.
Zulfikar Hameed, the provincial police chief, confirmed that the bombing was a suicide attack and that six of the attackers were killed in the explosion and the gun battle that followed.
The attack began during Friday prayers with an explosion near a mosque inside Kohat’s Old Police Lines compound, which houses police and counterterrorism offices.
Search-and-rescue teams were working through the damaged mosque and surrounding buildings, with footage showing extensive damage to the mosque.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), given the region's history of militant activity.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed sorrow over the casualties.
The Ministry of Interior said the “cowardly actions” of the attackers could not weaken the “nation’s firm resolve”.
The attack comes as violence has surged in the region, with security forces targeting militants.
The UN Secretary-General strongly condemned the bombing, stating that attacks targeting civilians and places of worship are unacceptable.
What this adds
The death toll rose to 21, including 15 police officers, while more than 100 people were wounded.
The attack occurred a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district, killing six soldiers.
The attack highlights the ongoing militant campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, primarily led by the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates.
Background
A suicide bombing and gun battle at a mosque in Pakistan's northwest killed at least 16 people, including five police officers, and injured over 50.
A car bombing at a mosque in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed at least 16 people and injured more than 50 during Friday prayers.
What's confirmed
- A bomb attack at a mosque and subsequent gun battle in Pakistan’s restive northwest has killed at least 16 people, including five police officers, with more than 56 reported injured.
- The Ministry of Interior said the “cowardly actions” of the attackers could not weaken the “nation’s firm resolve”.
- The mosque was badly damaged and the police station’s outer wall collapsed.
- At least 16 people, including five police personnel, were killed in northwest Pakistan on Friday after a suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden car into a police facility as people were praying at a mosque inside, police said.
- The blast occurred close to a mosque where the police personnel, their family members, and other civilians were offering Friday prayers, a police statement said.
- Militancy in Pakistan’s border areas has risen sharply in recent months, targeting mainly the military and police.
- Islamabad says the militants use safe havens in Afghanistan to train and plan attacks in Pakistan.
- Ittehadul Mujahideen, which means Mujahideen alliance, and is linked to Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said they carried out the suicide bomb attack.
What's still developing
- At least 15 bodies and more than 50 injured were initially taken to hospital, said Dr Tahir Shah, according to the dpa news agency.
- There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
- Pakistan’s military said 10 suspected militants were also killed in separate operations in Hangu and North Waziristan between Sept. 15 and 17.
- Friday’s bombing came a day after Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met with Sharif, Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and intelligence chief Lt.
- Kalin said Turkey would continue to make efforts to help resolve the tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan through dialogue, the news agency reported.
- Kalin discussed a range of issues with the Pakistani leadership, including efforts to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to Pakistani officials.
- At least seven armed gunmen also attempted to enter the police compound and exchanged fire with officers.
- The attack comes a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district and killed six soldiers.
- “Kohat is close to the Afghan border, it is the main city en route to the restive North Waziristan region, it is also on the way to Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. Over the past few months, we’ve seen deadly attacks on all these areas,” Hyder said.
- Those armed groups are trying to “overthrow the Pakistan government”, said Michael Semple, a visiting professor at Queen’s University Belfast and a former EU representative in Afghanistan who negotiated with the Afghan Taliban.
- Sophisticated attacks such as in Kohat could not be attempted without planning, logistics, and training, Semple told Al Jazeera.
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, has become the center of a renewed militant campaign led primarily by the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and its affiliates.