The death toll from a suicide attack on a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar has risen to 61. Pakistansaid a hospital spokesman in a later report on the tragedy.

“At the moment, we have collected 61 corpses, 60 victims are being treated. Dozens of other injured people have been transferred to other hospitals in the city,” Muhammad Asim Khan of Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar told AFP.

OUR explosion happened during a prayer in this very sensitive part of the city, located about 50 kilometers from the border with Afghanistan. This attack prompted the government to put the entire country on alert.

“It was a suicide attack,” Peshawar police chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters. The mosque was filled with up to 400 worshipers at the time of the explosion, he said, adding that most of the dead were police officers.

Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif called the explosion a suicide attack.

State-owned PTV footage shows police and local residents trying to remove debris from the blast site and carry the wounded on their backs.

Police said the attacker allegedly passed through several roadblocks guarded by security forces to enter the “red zone”.

“We found traces of explosives,” Khan told reporters, adding that there had been a clear security breach as the terrorist managed to infiltrate the most secure area of ​​the complex. An investigation has been launched into how the attacker made his way through such a security cordon and whether he was helped from within.

#Watch the video | At least 17 people were killed and 83 injured in an explosion at a mosque. #PeshawarPolice line area for lunch. pic.twitter.com/JDzZlaAm4Y

— Faiz Khan (@faizkh01234) January 30, 2023

A rescue operation was immediately launched to free those who were trapped in the rubble, as the explosion collapsed the roof and one wall of the building.

An AFP journalist saw bloodied wounded people leaving the damaged building and unconscious people, apparently dead, being taken away in ambulances.

Officials said the terrorist detonated an explosive device he brought in as hundreds of people lined up to pray. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo TV that the terrorist was in the front row of worshipers.

“Many police officers are buried under the rubble,” he told AFP. “We cannot say how much is left under the rubble,” said provincial governor Haji Ghulam Ali.

After the explosion, the roof of the mosque collapsed, the mosque collapsed, the wounded were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital.
#PeshawarExplosion #Peshawar #Peshawargift pic.twitter.com/gKo83r54XK

— Naveed Ullah (@NaveedUllah99) January 30, 2023

A spokesman for the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar told AFP that the death toll, previously at 33, rose to 47 and then to 61, and that at least 150 people were injured.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the worst in the city since last March, when a suicide attack on a Shia Muslim mosque during Friday prayers killed at least 58 people and injured about 200. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

Peshawar, located on the outskirts of tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan, is often targeted by armed groups, including the Pakistani Taliban.

Source: APE-MPE-Reuters-AFP-dpa.