Conflicts & War

ISIS claims responsibility for deadly mosque attack in Pakistan

Cairo, Mar 4 (EFE).- A regional affiliate of Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s bombing at a Shia Muslim mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, which left 56 people and nearly 200 others injured.

“At least 250 people were killed and wounded in a grand suicide attack,” according to a statement posted on the group’s propaganda website, Amaq.

The statement identified the attacker as Julaybib al-Kablib, a member of Islamic State Khorasan, known as ISIS-K.

Al-Kablib shot the two police officers guarding the mosque, killing one and wounding the other, before entering the sanctuary and detonating an explosive belt, ISIS said.

“So far 56 people have died and 194 are injured. The attack happened at 1:07 pm at the time of Friday prayer,” Ahsen Khan, an official at Peshawar police headquarters, told Efe, a few hours after the assault.

Dozens of people gathered outside the hospital where the wounded were taken mounted a protest to denounce the bombing.

Pakistan’s Shia minority – regarded by ISIS as apostates – has been repeatedly targeted in terrorist attacks, with more than 2,500 deaths since 2001, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, although the frequency of attacks has declined in recent years.

In August 2021, at least three people were killed and 50 others injured in an attack against a Shia procession in eastern Pakistan.

EFE

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