
PESHAWAR, January 30: A powerful suicide blast here at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines mosque on Monday martyred at least 59 worshippers, mostly policemen, and wounded 175 others during the Zuhr (afternoon) prayer.

According to a police spokesman, the death toll rose to 59 with 13 more critically injured expired here at Lady Reading Hospital (LHR) and other medical facilities in the city, where an emergency was imposed.
Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali and Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Shafiullah Khan confirmed the deaths of 32 worshippers and wounded 150 others.

The blast was so powerful that the front of the mosque, located in the Red Zone, was razed to the ground. The explosion occurred in the front row of the faithful.
Rescue 1122 personnel along with police continued the operation to recover worshippers still trapped under the rubble.
KP’s Health Department imposed emergencies on Peshawar’s three main hospitals. The governor and LRH spokesperson appealed to people, particularly those with a negative O blood type, to donate blood.

Commissioner Peshawar Riaz Mehsud told reporters that there was no shortage of medicines in hospitals and that the rescue operation for the recovery of worshippers trapped from the rubble of the mosque had almost been completed.
Capital City police officer Peshawar Ejaz Khan told the media it was too early to comment on the nature of the blast. However, there was the smell of explosives inside the mosque, he added, without ruling out the possibility of a suicide attack.

The CCPO said that usually between 300 and 400 people, including officials from Peshawar Police headquarters, the Department of Counter-Terrorism, the Border Reserve Police, the Elite Force, and the Telecommunications departments, offered Zuhr’s prayer at the mosque.
People in large numbers crowded hospitals to ask about their injured loved ones and donate blood. The LRH spokesperson, however, urged victims’ families to avoid rushing to the hospital so that treatment can be provided smoothly to those injured admitted to an emergency, trauma, and other wards.

Among the dead were Inspector Doran Shah; Zohaib Nawaz, resident of Dir Lower; Maqsood Ahmed; Rashida Bibi; Rafiq by Lakki Marwat; agent Naseem Shah; Liaqat of Charsadda; Driver Amjad; Shehryar; Liaqat by Lakki Marwat; Mohammad Ali of Mian Gujar; Sahibzada; Zahir Shah; Tilawat Shah; Waseem Shah; Gul Ashraf; Hayatullah Khattak; Zubair; Abdul Hameed; Usman; Khalid Khan, de Charsadda; Rafiq Khan; Inspector Irfan Khan; FC Shahab Charsadda staff; Abdul Wadud; FC Ahmad Khan staff; Liaqatullah Shah of Lakki Marwat; Atif Mujeeb; Rizwanullah of Charsadda; and Hazrat Umer, while the identity of two bodies had not yet been determined.

Source: APP