Islamabad, Pakistan
CNN
—
The suicide bomber who focused a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, killing greater than 80 individuals, was a member of the Pakistani Taliban disguised as a policeman, a senior official mentioned Thursday.
CCTV footage exhibits the suspected bomber arriving at a police checkpoint on a scooter Monday, asking a constable the path to the mosque, and being let by way of since he was in uniform, mentioned Moazzam Jah Ansari, police chief of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“This was a suicide bomber and we now have traced his motion. He was in a police uniform,” Ansari mentioned.
“We’re closing in on the community. Each lifetime of our martyrs shall be avenged,” he added.
Officers had beforehand put the demise toll at greater than 100, however among the our bodies had been counted twice, Ansari mentioned. The blast additionally injured 217.
The event comes someday after police in Peshawar arrested a number of suspects.
Police imagine 12 kilograms (26.5 kilos) of explosives had been utilized by the bomber.
Video footage confirmed the destroyed partitions of the mosque, its glass home windows and paneling destroyed by the highly effective explosion.
Emergency staff looked for survivors, however authorities mentioned most of these discovered beneath the rubble had been already useless.
The blast Monday highlights the deteriorating safety state of affairs in Peshawar, capital of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan, and the location of frequent assaults by the Pakistani Taliban, generally known as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP).
The TTP has despatched out conflicting messages about whether or not it was behind the assault.
TTP officers Sarbakaf Mohmand and Omar Mukaram Khurasani beforehand mentioned the blast was “revenge” for the demise of TTP militant Khalid Khorasani final yr.
However the TTP’s most important spokesperson, Muhammad Khorasani, later denied the group was concerned.
The assault comes throughout a rocky interval for Pakistan, which can be combating a price of dwelling disaster and a faltering financial system made worse by devastating floods final yr.
