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A powerful bomb exploded inside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least 56 people and wounding 194 others, according to a hospital official.
Peshawar Police Chief Muhammed Ejaz Khan said the violence started when two armed attackers opened fire on police outside the mosque in Peshawar’s old city. One attacker and one policeman were killed in the gunfight, and another police official was wounded. The remaining attacker then ran inside the mosque and detonated a bomb.
Local police official Waheed Khan said the explosion occurred as worshippers had gathered in the Kucha Risaldar mosque for Friday prayers.
Ambulances rushed through congested narrow streets carrying the wounded to Lady Reading Hospital, where doctors worked feverishly.
The attack came on the first day of a cricket test match in Rawalpindi – around 190 kilometres (120 miles) to the east – between Pakistan and Australia, who haven’t toured Pakistan in nearly a quarter of a century because of security concerns.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but both the Islamic State (IS) group and the Pakistani Taliban have carried out similar attacks in the region, located near the border with neighbouring Afghanistan.
‘Dust and bodies everywhere’
Shayan Haider, a witness, had been preparing to enter the mosque when a powerful explosion threw him to the street.
“I opened my eyes and there was dust and bodies everywhere,” he said.
At the Lady Reading Hospital emergency department, there was chaos as doctors struggled to move the many wounded into operating theatres. Hundreds of relatives gathered outside the emergency department, many of them wailing and beating their chests, pleading for information about their loved ones.
Outside the mosque, Shiite…
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Source : france24
