PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Police investigating a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people in a Pakistani mosque said Tuesday that several people had been arrested. security check.
The bombing was the deadliest in a decade to hit Peshawar. northwest city Near the Afghan border, all but three of the people killed were police, making it the worst single attack on Pakistani security forces in recent history.
Bombers struck Monday at a mosque built for police and their families living in a heavily fortified area as hundreds of worshipers were gathering for noon prayers.
“We found some good leads and based on these leads we have made a large number of arrests,” Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters news agency.
“Inside assistance cannot be ruled out, but as the investigation is still ongoing, we are unable to share any details.”
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Investigators, including counter-terrorism and intelligence officials, have focused on how the attackers breached military and police checkpoints and entered the colonial-era Police Line District. – Junior police officers and their families.
[1/6] Rescue workers clear debris while searching for victims after a suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, on January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif Bomber I was in the front row of the chapel when he attacked. The body of the assailant has been recovered, state police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters.
“We believe the attackers are not an organized group,” he added.
The most active extremist group in the region, pakistan talibanTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has denied responsibility for the attack, which no group has so far claimed. Interior Minister Rana Sanaura told parliament that the breakaway faction of the TTP should be held accountable.
The blast destroyed the upper floors of the mosque. In September 2013, Oul became the deadliest in Peshawar since his two suicide bombings at the Saints Church killed dozens of followers.
Peshawar sits on the edge of Pashtun lands, a region plagued by violence for the past two decades.
The TTP is an umbrella group of Sunni and sectarian Islamist factions that oppose the government in Islamabad. The group has recently stepped up its attacks on police.
Reported by Jibran Ahmad of Peshawar and Asif Shahzad of Islamabad. Written by Miral Family.Edited by Simon Cameron Moore
Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
