Peshawar mosque assault: Rescue officers recuperate severed head of suspected suicide bomber

Rescue officers recovered the severed head of a suspected suicide bomber who they consider blew himself up contained in the mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar on Monday.  

New Delhi ,UPDATED: Jan 31, 2023 17:03 IST

The impression of the explosion was such that it introduced down the higher storey of the mosque, trapping worshippers within the rubble. (Photo: Getty)

By India Today Web Desk: As rescue operations continued on the mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar, the place an explosion killed not less than 90 folks and injured 200 others through the afternoon prayers on Monday, rescue officers on Tuesday recovered the severed head of the suspected suicide bomber who they consider blew himself up contained in the mosque.

Nearly 400 worshippers, together with personnel of the police, military and bomb disposal squad, have been providing prayers contained in the mosque within the highly-fortified Police Lines space in Pakistan’s restive northwestern metropolis Peshawar round 1:40 pm on Monday when the suicide bomber, who was sitting within the entrance row, blew himself up.

The impression of the blast was such that it induced the roof to break down, trapping scores of worshippers within the rubble. Rescuers struggled to chop via the collapsed rooftop to make their means down and have a tendency to victims caught within the wreckage.

Also Read | Peshawar mosque blast: Visuals present scene of devastation after suicide assault

The attacker appeared to have handed via a number of barricades manned by safety forces to get into the “Red Zone” compound that homes police and counter-terrorism workplaces.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Peshawar Mohammad Aijaz Khan informed Geo TV that the blast gave the impression to be a suicide assault and the pinnacle of the suspected bomber was recovered on the web site in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“It is possible that the attacker was already present in the Police Lines before the blast and that he may have used an official vehicle [to enter],” he was quoted as saying by Geo TV.

Khan added the precise nature of the blast will probably be identified as soon as the rescue operation concludes.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan on Tuesday introduced a day of mourning within the province following the assault.

PAKISTAN TALIBAN’S STAND ON ATTACK

Shortly after the explosion, Sarbakaf Mohmand, a commander for the Pakistani Taliban — also referred to as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP — claimed duty for the assault in a publish on Twitter.

But hours later, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani distanced the group from the bombing, saying it was not its coverage to focus on mosques, seminaries and spiritual locations, including that these participating in such acts may face punitive motion beneath TTP’s coverage. His assertion didn’t deal with why a TTP commander had claimed duty for the bombing.

TEHREEK-E-TALIBAN PAKISTAN

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), arrange as an umbrella group of a number of terror outfits in 2007, known as off a ceasefire with the federal authorities and ordered its terrorists to stage assaults throughout the nation.

The group, which is believed to be near Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for a number of lethal assaults throughout Pakistan, together with an assault on military headquarters in 2009, assaults on navy bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban attacked the Army Public School (APS) within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar, killing not less than 150 folks, together with 131 college students.

(With inputs from PTI and AP)

Edited By:

Raajnandini Mukherjee

Published On:

Jan 31, 2023