Officials have vowed to hunt down and arrest the masterminds behind a deadly mosque attack in Pakistan claimed by an Islamic State affiliate. The assault killed at least 63 people and wounded nearly 200.
IS said in a statement the lone suicide bomber was from neighbouring Afghanistan. He shot two police guarding the Shi’ite Muslim mosque in northwest Peshawar before detonating his device.
The attack took place as worshippers knelt for Friday prayers.
The IS affiliate, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, is headquartered in eastern Afghanistan.
The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, who have been fighting IS, condemned the attack.Â
“There is no justification for attacking civilians and worshippers,” the Taliban’s Deputy Minister for Culture and Information Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted.
The death toll is likely to continue to rise, said Asim Khan, spokesman for Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital.
At least four of 38 patients still hospitalised are in critical condition, he said.
Hundreds of mourners crying and beating their chests attended funeral prayers for 13 victims late on Friday and for another 11 on Saturday at Peshawar’s Kohati Gate.
One of the police officers shot outside the mosque died at the scene while the second died later from his wounds, police officials said.
Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in a statement that three investigation teams were established to study forensic evidence and closed-circuit TV footage to track down the attack’s organisers.
Immediately after the bombing, Pakistan’s minority Shi’ites slammed the government for lax security arrangements demanding greater attention to their safety.
Friday’s attack in Peshawar’s congested old city was the worst in years in Pakistan. The country has seen renewed militant attacks after several years of relative quiet that followed military operations against militant hideouts in the border regions with Afghanistan.
The attacks have mostly been carried out by the Pakistani Taliban since last August when the Afghan Taliban swept into power and America ended its 20-year involvement in Afghanistan.Â
AAP
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