45 Killed, 65 Injured In a Blast in Shia Mosque in Pakistan
NEW DELHI, March 4: At least 45 people were killed and 65 others injured, many of them critically, in a powerful explosion in a Shia mosque in Peshawar in Pakistan on Friday.
Hospital sources so far have confirmed 30 dead and over a dozen injured but officials admitted that the casualty could be much higher. No organisation has so far taken the responsibility for the blast but both the Islamic State (IS) and the Pakistani Taliban had been active in the area for some time, particularly targeting the Shias in the region located close to its border with Afghanistan.
Local police official Waheed Khan said the explosion occurred as worshippers had collected in the Kucha Risaldar mosque in Qissa Khwani Bazaar area in Peshawar’s old city, about 190 kilometres west of the capital Islamabad, for Friday prayers. Ambulances rushed through congested narrow streets carrying the wounded to Lady Reading Hospital, where doctors worked feverishly.
Capital City Police Officer Peshawar Ijaz Ahsan, as quoted by Pakistani media, said according to initial reports, two attackers tried to enter the mosque and fired at police officers present on duty. The blast inside the mosque took place after the firing incident.
Asim Khan, media manager of Lady Reading, said 30 bodies had been brought to the hospital so far. Officials said the condition of 10 injured were critical. As footages emerge from the mosque area, a large contingent of security teams can be seen cordoning off the area. The explosion blew out the windows of nearby buildings, and frantic rescuers were seen ferrying the dead and wounded from the scene.
“I opened my eyes and there was dust and bodies everywhere,” an eye-witness Shayan Haider, who was about to enter the mosque when the blast occurred, said. “I saw a man firing at two policemen before he entered the mosque. Seconds later I heard a big bang,” said another witness Zahid Khan.
It comes on the first day of a cricket Test match in Rawalpindi between Pakistan and Australia, who haven’t toured the country in nearly a quarter of a century because of security concerns.
Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned the attack on the Imambargah and directed for immediate medical aid to the victims, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. In majority Sunni Muslim Pakistan, minority Shiite Muslims have come under repeated attacks.
(Manas Dasgupta)
