Pakistan, blast at religious school results in several dead

Rescue workers in the mosque after the blast, Peshawar, Pakistan Rescue workers in the mosque after the blast, Peshawar, Pakistan Abdul Majeed/AFnmqt

27 October 2020

Several people died and many were injured after a blast in a mosque in Peshawar, northern Pakistan 

 An explosion at a mosque in northern Pakistan killed seven people and wounded 109, according to police and health officials. The blast occurred on Tuesday, 26 October, at 8:30 in the morning, while students were reading the Quran. 

According to the initial investigation, someone left a bag containing six kilograms of explosives at the mosque. The chief of the local police’s bomb disposal unit, Shafqat Malik, claimed that a sophisticated device involving a timed detonation was used. The explosion caused great damage and, according to the police, it must have been planned in advance. 

Tariq Burki, an official at the Lady Reading Hospital, where most of the wounded have been taken to, said that five of the wounded were in very critical conditions. Burki also claimed that most of the victims, as well as the injured, were aged between 20 and 40 and that at least four children were killed. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, even though the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) might be behind it. Pakistan has been fighting against the TTP since the group was formed in 2007. TTP is a terrorist group serving as an umbrella organization for several Taliban groups based along the Afghan border. The group has been carrying out multiple attacks against civilian and military targets across the country. 

 

 

To read more, please visit: 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/27/several-dead-in-blast-at-religious-school-in-pakistans-peshawar 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/27/pakistan-blast-at-seminary-in-peshawar-kills-injured

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/10/1076282

 

Author: Margherita Curti; Editor: Matteo Consiglio

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