Pakistani officials say the bomber in the mosque in the city of Peshawar wore a police uniform to sneak inside and detonate it.
“The security force on duty did not check this guy because he was wearing a police uniform. It was a security hole,” Moazzam Jah Ansari, head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial police force, said today.
Pakistani police have speculated about the bomber’s identity, after comparing the suspect’s body at the scene with security camera footage.
“There is a network behind him,” Ansari said, adding that the bomber was not alone in planning to attack the mosque in the city of Peshawar.
Plainclothes police officers inspect the site of a bombed mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, on February 1. Photo: AFP
The mosque where the bombing occurred is located in a high-security area where the police and counter-terrorism unit of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are located. The incident occurred on the afternoon of January 30, when hundreds of officers were attending a prayer service, killing 101 people and injuring nearly 160.
It was the latest attack on security forces in Peshawar, and the deadliest bombing in the area since a suicide attack by Islamic State militants that killed 58 people. who died in March 2022.
Authorities have not identified the individual or organization behind the bombing. Sarbakaf Mohmand, commander of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an Islamist armed group banned in Pakistan, initially claimed responsibility. However, TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani later denied, explaining that the attack on the mosque was unacceptable according to Islamic regulations.
Like Tam (Theo AFP)