PM Sharif says ‘unimaginable human tragedy’
AMN / WEB DESK
A blast inside a mosque shook Peshawar’s Police Lines area on Monday, with officials saying that at least 59 people were killed and 157 were injured. The Peshawar Police have said a number of police personnel are still stuck under the debris and rescue operations are underway to pull them out of the rubble.
The hospitals including the Lady Reading Hospital have been flooded with injured victims which were brought in after a bomber sneaked into the walled compound and set off the explosive vest while more than 300 worshippers were offering prayers. A majority of casualties are police officials, several media reports stated.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a terror group which has been waging a war against Pakistan forces since the past 15 years, has claimed responsibility for the terror attack.
Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the Lady Reading Hospital and met the injured victims. He was accompanied by top government and Pakistan Army officials. “Just returned from Peshawar. The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed by a deep sense of grief. I have no doubt terrorism is our foremost national security challenge”, the Pakistani prime minister tweeted.
The Peshawar Police has said that a number of police personnel are still stuck under the debris and rescue operations are underway to pull them out of the rubble, Dawn reported. However, Peshawar’s City Police Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan said that it is early to say anything substantial on the nature of explosives. “As the prayer leader said ‘Allah is the greatest’, there was a big bang,” Mushtaq Khan, a policeman with a head wound, told Reuters from his hospital bed.
Following the blast in Peshawar, high alert has been sounded in Islamabad. According to a tweet by the Islamabad Police, security checks have been increased at all entry and exit points. Snipers have been deployed at important ports and buildings.
‘300-400 policemen usually offer prayers at Zuhr’
Capital City Police Officer, Peshawar (CCPO) Ejaz Khan, while talking to media, said that it was too early to say anything as many policemen are still trapped under the rubble.
“We are currently focused on the rescue operation. We cannot say with surety but there is a smell of explosives inside the mosque,” said the CCPO. He added that headquarters of the Peshawar Police, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Frontier Reserve Police (FRP), Elite Force and telecommunications department are also located near the blast site.
