Death toll from suicide attack on mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines rises to 100



The death toll from the suicide attack on a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines area a day earlier rose to 100 on Tuesday after more bodies were recovered from the attack site.

Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Mohammad Asim said that 100 dead bodies had been brought to the medical facility. In a statement, he said 53 injured citizens were currently being treated seven of whom had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

He said that most of the injured were out of danger, adding that all the injured were being provided medical facilities free-of-cost.

On Monday, 59 people, mostly police officials, were martyred and over 150 were injured after an explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area. The powerful blast blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. It later distanced itself from it but sources earlier indicated that it might have been the handiwork of some local faction of the outlawed group.

Peshawar Division Commissioner Riaz Mehsud said that the rescue and search operation at the blast site has been completed, after almost 24 hours.

Earlier, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Faizi had said that rescue teams were removing the last part of the collapsed roof of the mosque. “But we are not hopeful of reaching any survivors.”

Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan said that more than 90 per cent of the victims were policemen, between 300 and 400 of whom had gathered in the compound’s mosque for prayers.

Wajahat Ali, a 23-year-old police constable who survived, said that he had lost all hopes for survival. “I remained trapped under the rubble with a dead body over me for seven hours,” he told AFP from the LRH.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, meanwhile, called on all political forces to unite against anti-state elements in the aftermath of the attack.

“Through their despicable actions, terrorists want to spread fear and paranoia among the masses and reverse our hard-earned gains against terrorism and militancy. My message to all political forces is one of unity against anti-Pakistan elements. We can fight our political fights later.”

fall of the US-supported Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan in 2021, the Afghan Taliban had facilitated peace talks between the government and the TTP.

While negotiations with the banned group reportedly began in October 2021 under the PTI government’s watch, the process continued in fits and starts when the Shehbaz Sharif government took over.

In response, the banned outfit had declared a ceasefire and stopped its attacks on security forces, extending the truce in May. The government had also sent delegations of tribal elders and ulema to Kabul in order to persuade the TTP to end its activities and surrender its weapons.

The months-long negotiations, however, remained inconclusive and ultimately ended in November last year. Major sticking points included the TTP’s demands to roll back the merger of the erstwhile tribal areas with KP, release hardened terrorists, as well as the group’s refusal to lay down their arms. These were obvious red lines the state could not let the militants cross.

Addressing the upper house of Parliament today, Rabbani recalled that when the Taliban returned to Afghanistan, some thousands of people with weapons were allowed to enter Pakistan.

“It was said that they are good Taliban and they will work according to the law and Constitution […] it was said they will be rehabilitated,” he said.

The senator pointed out that neither the public nor Parliament was taken into confidence over the matter. “Even at that time, Parliament had said that a joint session should be called and all these things should be presented before it so that the public’s opinion could be brought forward.”

Rabbani went on to say that permission was also not taken from the National Security Committee, instead, it was just told that negotiations with the TTP were under way.

“The negotiations were outsourced to a jirga. PPP and ANP had strong reservations about them,” he said, demanding that a parliamentary inquiry should be conducted into the matter.

The senator also said that the terrorism policy should be discussed in the joint sitting of the Parliament on Feb 8.

“All the stakeholders and political parties should be called to the Parliament for a dialogue. This is the question of life and death but parties are busy in doing politics,” he added.

said that his governm­ent had planned to resettle banned TTP fighters in Pakistan’s tribal districts with the help of the Afghan Taliban, but the plan hit a snag owing to the non-cooperation of provinces.

“The gov­­e­r­n­ment had planned to relocate at least 5,000 TTP fighters and their family members which amount to about 35,000,” he had revealed in a virtual seminar, adding that the plan did not materialise as provinces refused to foot the bill.

talks with the TTP broke down in November, the militant group has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped up their violent activities and formalised a nexus with the outlawed TTP.

On January 22, a police vehicle narrowly escaped a bomb blast in Peshawar’s Badaber area. A day earlier, a policeman was martyred and two others were injured when unidentified assailants attacked a police post in Dheri Zardad locality of Charsadda.

On January 14, a deputy superintendent and two constables were martyred when militants, armed with automatic assault weapons, targeted the Sarband police station on the outskirts of the province’s capital, Peshawar late at night.


With additional input from APP, AFP



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