Scores killed and injured in suicide attack at Islamabad mosque
At least 31 people die, and some 170 others suffer injury in a suicide attack during Friday prayers in a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
It is feared that the death toll will rise following the suicide bombing attack at Khadija Tul Kubra mosque in southeastern Islamabad during Friday prayers.
Two police officials said the attacker was stopped at the gate of the mosque before detonating the bomb that struck adults and children just moments after the prayer began.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar condemned the incident as a “cowardly suicide attack on innocent worshippers”.
“Targeting places of worship and civilians is a heinous crime against humanity and a blatant violation of Islamic principles,” he posted on X, “Pakistan stands united against terrorism in all its forms.”
An investigation is reportedly underway.
Shi’ites, who are in the minority in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation of 241 million, have been targeted in sectarian violence in the past, including by the Sunni Islamist militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which considers them heretics.
A suicide bombing last November killed 12 people in Islamabad, but no group claimed responsibility for that attack.
