A suicide bomber detonated his vest as worshipers were praying at a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. “At least 32 people were killed and more than 140 were injured,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Ghulam Ali said at a news conference.
Most of the victims are police officers because the targeted mosque is located within a sprawling compound that doubles as the city’s police headquarters.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban group, has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on a Peshawar mosque. The action would be revenge for the August 2022 killing of TTP leader Omer Khalid Khorasani, whose real name was Abdul Wali Mohmand, by a roadside mine explosion in the Afghan province of Paktika.
The TTP blamed the Pakistani intelligence services for the action. Sarbakaf Mohmand, leader of TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack in a message sent to ANSA via WhatsApp. He added that the suicide attack was carried out by Huziafa, a 25-year-old suicide bomber, who used seven kilograms of explosives in the attack.