PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Police investigating a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people at a Pakistani mosque on Tuesday said several people had been arrested, and that they could not those who are to rule out the possibility of internal help to avoid it. security checks.
The bombing was the deadliest in a decade to hit Peshawar, a restive northwestern city near the Afghan border, with all but three of the dead being police officers. security in Pakistan in a single attack in recent history.
The bombings took place on Monday as hundreds of worshipers gathered for midday prayers at a mosque that is meant for policemen and their families living in the heavily fortified area.
“We found good clues, and based on those clues we made a major arrest,” Peshawar police chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters.
“We cannot ignore internal help but as the investigation is still ongoing I cannot share more details.”
Latest news
View 2 more stories
Investigators, who include counter-terrorism and intelligence officials, are focusing on how the attacker managed to break through the military and police base into the Police Lines district, a colonial-era camp, located only in the heart of the city which is home to the center. – and low-ranking police officers and their families.
[1/6] Rescuers clear rubble as they search for victims, after a suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the bomb hit the front row of the prayer hall. The remains of the attacker have been found, provincial police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters.
“We believe that the attackers are not an organized group,” he added.
The most active militant group in the region, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has denied responsibility for the attack, which no group has yet claimed responsibility for. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told parliament that the TTP faction was responsible.
The blast destroyed the top floor of the mosque. It was the deadliest in Peshawar since dozens of worshipers were killed at All Saints Church in September 2013, still the deadliest attack on the country’s Christian minority.
Peshawar sits on the edge of Pashtun tribal land, an area that has been plagued by violence for the past two decades.
The TTP is an umbrella group for Sunni and sectarian Islamist parties opposed to the government in Islamabad. This group has recently intensified its attacks by the police.
Reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Written by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
