Pakistan Mosque Bomb Blast: Death Toll Rises To 93

A horrific bomb in a mosque on Monday at a police compound in northwestern Pakistan resulted in at least 93 fatalities, as the Pakistani Taliban walked back its earlier claim of responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks in the country in years.

Over 150 people were wounded by the attack, which occurred on Monday during afternoon worship, close to areas along the Afghan border. More than 300 worshippers were praying in the mosque when a bomber set off his explosives vest.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Asim Khan, a spokesperson from the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, confirmed the deaths and stated that an additional 50 bomb victims were receiving medical attention for their wounds.
In a statement to CNN, Khan, the Peshawar police chief, earlier said the incident inside the Police Lines Mosque was "probably a suicide attack," echoing Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

"The brutal killing of Muslims prostrating before Allah is against the teachings of the Quran," Sharif said in a statement, adding that "targeting the House of Allah is proof that the attackers have nothing to do with Islam."

"Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan," the Prime Minister stated. "Those who fight against Pakistan will be erased from the page." A "comprehensive strategy" is in the works in order to restore law and order in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is located, Sharif added, reports CNN.

Meanwhile, as rescuers combed through the mosque's debris and rubble and congregants, mostly law enforcement officials, gathered for evening prayers, optimism was receding in the search for survivors.
Bilal Faizi, a rescue spokesperson said, "We are not expecting anyone alive to be found. Mostly dead bodies are being recovered."

Police officer Nasarullah Khan, who survived the explosion, recalled seeing "a huge burst of flames" before being encircled by a swirl of black dust.

"The ceiling fell in… the space in between the ceiling and wall is where I managed to survive," Khan claimed that the explosion fractured his foot, leaving him trapped in the rubble for three hours, reports CNN.

The explosion on Monday is the most recent indication of the worsening security situation in Peshawar, capital of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and a frequent target of strikes by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP).

The TTP is a US-designated foreign terrorist organization operating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Last year, the breakdown of an already weak year-long truce between the TTP and Pakistan's government raised the possibility of rising cross-border hostilities between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

TTP officials Sarbakaf Mohmand and Omar Mukaram Khurasani initially stated on Monday that the explosion was "revenge" for the death of TTP militant Khalid Khorasani the previous year.

"Ill-equipped law enforcement personnel continue to be targeted in incidents that dearly cost civilian and police lives. We demand the state take action now," The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated.