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The attack was carried out by two men, one of whom was shot down by the police, but the other entered and detonated a bomb inside the compound after opening fire. In addition to the more than fifty casualties, there are 196 wounded, so it is thought that the number of deaths could rise exponentially. Law enforcement declared a state of emergency.
This Friday, in the city of Peshawar, there was a suicide attack in a Shiite mosque during prayers on the occasion of the holy day of Islam. The incident in northwestern Pakistan left 56 dead – a figure that continues to climb – and 196 injured. No terrorist entity has yet claimed responsibility for the act.
Agent Ahsen Khan, a member of the police headquarters, explained to EFE that the event took place at 1:07 p.m. local time during the traditional Friday prayers. He described it as a suicide attack after the only one of the two assailants who managed to enter the sacred space detonated the explosives he was carrying.
“Two terrorists opened fire on the policemen deployed outside the mosque. An attacker and a policeman were killed in the exchange of fire, while the second managed to enter,” Khan said. In addition, he added, that the aggressor fired at those present before carrying out the detonation.
For his part, police officer Mohammad Khan told Reuters that they were “in a state of emergency.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack, said his office and the Twitter account of the PTI, his political party; the health authorities imposed the “medical emergency”.
While the influx of wounded was constant at Lady Reading Hospital, outside dozens of people protested because the Shiite community suffered another terrorist attack.
The institution’s spokesman, Asim Khan, explained that many of the injured were in critical condition. Dozens of victims were hit by bullets, some had to have limbs amputated and others were injured by debris that fell from the explosion.
This attack comes at a time when Pakistan was beginning its international reopening by hosting foreign teams after overcoming security concerns that forced the country to divert high-profile foreign hosts to the United Arab Emirates.
In this case, it is the Australian cricket team that was developing a tour of Pakistani soil for the first time in two decades and is staying in the city of Islamabad, 140 kilometers from Peshawar.
We strongly condemn the inhumane attack in #Peshawar. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and prayers for the injured ones. We have fought against this menace in the past and we will do it again, InshaAllah!
— PTI (@PTIofficial) March 4, 2022
Despite the fact that in recent years crimes have decreased, since 2001 there are already 2,500 deaths from attacks in Pakistan, according to the records of the South Asia Terrorism Portal. For a long time, they were targeted by Sunni Muslim Islamist militants, such as the Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban of Teehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
One of the worst happened in 2019, when 20 people died and 40 were injured by the explosion of a bomb hidden in a bag of potatoes in a local market, an act claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, who consider Shiites to be apostates.
With military interventions by the Army, terrorist violence has dropped considerably since June 2014 when it led to incursions into tribal areas. However, the shadow of the threat is always present in Pakistan.
With EFE, REUTERS and AP