Pakistan mosque blast: Mass burial of police victims.
The death toll has risen to 100 after a suicide attack on a mosque targeting police officers in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The mosque is in a heavily guarded zone an investigation is underway into how the bomber got inside.
The attack, one of the bloodiest in Pakistan in recent years, left dozens injured.
The Pakistani Taliban’s claim of carrying out the bombing was later denied by the militant group and blamed on a splinter faction.
In the past, the Pakistani Taliban has refrained from claiming some attacks on mosques, schools, or markets because it says it is at war with security forces and not the Pakistani people, but many questions such denials.
On Tuesday, rescuers tried to retrieve worshipers buried in the rubble, pulling out nine people alive, but others recovered.
The BBC saw ambulances coming and going from the compound every few minutes.
More than 50 remain injured, some of them critically.
Meanwhile, funerals, Were held for more than 20 police officers, their coffins draped with the Pakistani flag.
Hundreds of people thronged the funeral of Irfan Ullah, a police inspector killed in the blast. A few days before, he survived another attack – an ambush where some of his colleagues died.
Armed security guarded the prayers. Some of those present wept Silently, leaving behind a wife and five children. His brother Muhammed Zahid described the family’s pain at the graveside.
”But when we asked the police, they told us The fourth body I saw was his.”
He was also Brave. And never afraid of anything. We always told him to be careful, but he said, ‘No, it’s my duty; It’s a huge loss for our family.”
There were 300 to 400 police officers in the area at the time, Peshawar Police Chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told local media earlier.
The mosque is in one of the city’s most controlled areas of the city’ Which includes the police headquarters and intelligence and counter-terrorism offices. On Tuesday, local media lined the road outside the gates – as close as security would allow.
The Pakistani Taliban ended a ceasefire in November violence has been On the rise in the country since then. It is separate from the Afghan Taliban but shares the same hardline Islamist ideology.
Militant activity in Pakistan has increased since the Taliban struck a peace deal with the US and took power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Since the end of the ceasefire, there have been several attacks on Pakistani police and security personnel. In December, the Pakistani Taliban attacked a police station – such as Peshawar in the northwest bordering Afghanistan – which officials said led to the deaths of 33 militants.
Monday’s Explosion at the mosque; took place around 1:30 pm (8:30 GMT) during afternoon prayers.
An entire Wall of the building; collapsed, and the mosque was cover in bricks and debris as people scrambled over the debris to escape.
Hours after the blast, BBC News witnessed the facility full of the injured, many of whom were still wearing police uniforms.
Some were cover, in burn cream, their skin red from blast burns.
One man said he still couldn’t hear because of the sound of the Explosion. Another man said he was rescued” after being trapped under the rubble for nearly an hour.
The Prime Minister travelled to where local officials will brief him to visit those injured in the blast.
