The balance of Monday’s attack at a mosque on Pakistani police grounds in Peshawar has risen to 88 dead, local authorities said on Tuesday, calling the attack one of the deadliest in recent years.
The death toll rose with the discovery of new bodies overnight, spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, Muhammad Asim Khan, told AFP news agency.
In another tally released by the Associated Press news agency, the number of fatalities, mostly officers, reached 74.
“This morning the last part of the collapsed roof will be removed so that we can recover more bodies, but we are pessimistic about the chance of finding any more survivors,” emergency services spokesman Bilal Ahmad Faizi told AFP.
The attack, carried out by a suicide bomber, was initially claimed by Sarbakaf Mohmand, commander of the Pakistani Taliban group, via a post on the social network Twitter. Hours later, however, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or under its acronym TTP, Mohammad Khurasani, denied responsibility for the group, saying it was not the policy of the movement to destroy mosques, seminaries and religious places to attack.
The impact of the explosion caused the roof of the mosque to collapse, injuring at least 150, said Zafar Khan, a police officer.
Siddique Khan, a police officer, added that the leader of Noor-ul-Amin Mosque was among the dead.
A survivor, police officer Meena Gul, 38, said she was in the mosque when the bomb exploded, describing a scene of chaos and panic following the explosion.
In a statement, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the attack and ordered authorities to provide the victims with the best possible medical treatment, promising “severe action” against those responsible for the attack.
Peshawar has been the scene of frequent attacks by terrorist militias.
The TTP, active in Pakistan for over 15 years, is a different group than the Taliban who currently control Afghanistan.
Source: DN
