At least 25 people have been killed and more than 120 injured in a suicide attack on a mosque in Pakistan.

A bomb blast killed at least 25 people and injured 120 others Suicide attack This Monday a Mosque At Police Headquarters, Pakistan PeshawarA local government official pointed out.

The event took place During evening prayers in Peshawar, near the Afghan border. The mosque is located near a police housing block, inside it There were about 260 people According to the police, when the explosion occurred.

Peshawar Deputy City Commissioner Shafiullah Khan said, “I am at the scene and rescue operations are underway. “The bodies are also being removed. At this time Our priority is to rescue people buried under the rubble“, he added.

Peshawar Police Control Room Officer Behzad Khan announced this A suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in Police Lines.

“This happened during prayer. A two-storied building has collapsed.”, an eyewitness told local news channel Geo TV, adding that he was outside the mosque when the explosion occurred.

“The blast left 19 people dead and more than 90 injured,” Mohammad Azim, a spokesman for the city’s Lady Reading Hospital, said before officials raised the toll of the attack. Many more are in critical condition. The medical center has been forced to appeal for blood donations to treat dozens of injured, and the source indicated that victims continue to come to the facility.

Police said many others were buried under the rubble.

Pictures of the chain of states PTV They showed police officers and residents working to clear the rubble and carrying the injured on their shoulders. “Part of the building has collapsed and many people are believed to be under the rubble,” said police officer Sikandar Khan.

for now, No insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The last attack against a religious center in Pakistan took place in the same Peshawar in March 2022, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a Shiite minority mosque, killing 56 people and injuring nearly 200 others. The attack, claimed by EI-K, a local branch of the Islamic State jihadist group, was Pakistan’s worst since 2018.

Pakistan has faced a worsening security situation in recent months, especially since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

After years of peace, attacks by the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), IS-K and Baloch separatist groups have resumed.

Pakistan condemns the Taliban for allowing these groups to plot attacks on their territory, which Kabul officials deny.

(With information from AFP, Reuters and EFE)

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