At least 56 people were killed and 196 injured in an attack on a Shiite mosque in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan, on Friday, according to a local hospital and police.
“We are in a state of emergency and the injured are being taken to hospital,” police chief Mohammad Khan told Reuters news agency. “We are investigating the nature of the explosion, but it appears to have been a suicide bombing.” He added that the death toll is expected to rise.
The attack took place as worshipers gathered for Friday prayers. Khan told Reuters that two men arrived in the mosque area on a motorbike and were stopped for an inspection by agents. They then opened fire on the police and entered the scene.
Police are still trying to determine whether the two are responsible for suicide attacks inside the mosque.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest against Pakistan’s Shi’ite minority, targeted by Sunni militants such as the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban), known as the Pakistani Taliban – which has no connection with the namesake that seized power. in Afghanistan last year.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack, according to his office.
Similar attacks have taken place in the region near the Afghan border, and the Pakistani military has held back almost daily in recent years.
