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A suicide bombing that killed dozens of policemen at a mosque in a authorities compound in north-west Pakistan displays a “safety lapse”, present and former officers say.
The blast, which ripped by a Sunni mosque inside a serious police facility on the mosque, was one of many deadliest assaults on Pakistani safety forces in recent times, with a dying toll that rose to 95 on Tuesday.
Greater than 300 worshipers have been praying within the mosque within the metropolis of Peshawar, with extra approaching, when the bomber set off his explosive vest on Monday morning, officers mentioned.
The explosion blew off a part of the roof, and what was left quickly caved in, injuring many extra, in keeping with Zafar Khan, a police officer.
Rescuers needed to take away mounds of particles to achieve worshipers nonetheless trapped beneath the rubble.
Extra our bodies have been retrieved in a single day and early on Tuesday, in keeping with Mohammad Asim, a authorities hospital spokesman in Peshawar, and several other of these critically injured died.
“Most of them have been policemen,” Asim mentioned of the victims. The bombing additionally wounded greater than 150 folks.
Bilal Faizi, the chief rescue official, mentioned rescue groups have been nonetheless working on the website as extra folks have been believed to be trapped inside.
Mourners have been burying the sufferer at totally different graveyards within the metropolis and elsewhere.
Counterterrorism police are investigating how the bomber was capable of attain the mosque, which is in a walled compound, inside a high-security zone with different authorities buildings.
“Sure, it was a safety lapse,” mentioned Ghulam Ali, the provincial governor within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital.
Talat Masood, a retired military normal and senior safety analyst mentioned Monday’s suicide bombing confirmed “negligence”.
“Once we know that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is lively, and once we know that they’ve threatened to hold out assaults, there ought to have been extra safety on the police compound in Peshawar,” he informed the Related Press, referring to a militant group often known as the Pakistani Taliban or TTP.
Kamkan Bangash, a provincial secretary-general with opposition occasion Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, known as for an investigation.
He mentioned Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s authorities had failed to enhance regulation and order, and will resign and name snap elections.
Mr Sharif visited a hospital in Peshawar after the bombing and vowed “stern motion” towards these behind the assault.
“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. That is at least an assault on Pakistan,” he tweeted.
Authorities haven’t decided who was behind the bombing.
TTP commander Sarbakaf Mohmand claimed accountability for the assault in a publish on Twitter.
However hours later, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani distanced the group from the bombing, saying it was not its coverage to focus on non secular locations.
His assertion didn’t deal with why a TTP commander had claimed accountability for the bombing.
Pakistan, which is usually Sunni Muslim, has seen a surge in militant assaults since November, when the Pakistani Taliban ended a ceasefire with authorities forces.
-AP
