The death toll from the Peshawar mosque blast rose to 62 on Saturday, Pakistan-based news agency Dawn reported. A separate report by news agency AFP also said that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
At least 194 people were injured in the blast.
“Today Friday, an Islamic State fighter succeeded in assaulting a Shiite mosque in Peshawar,” the group said in its propaganda website Amaq. The blast occurred in the Kocha Risaldar area of Peshawar, around 190 kilometres from the capital Islamabad.
The attackers, according to GeoNews, first targeted policemen, opened fire at them and then amid worshippers inside the mosque detonated a suicide vest which was packed with explosives and ball bearings.
Around the time of the blast, at least 130 worshippers were present inside the mosque.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police and investigation agencies said that they used the bomber’s severed feet to ID him and find other terrorists.
A separate report by news agency Dawn quoted the interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed who said that all three suspects have been identified.
The police officials told news agency Dawn that at least six kilograms of explosives were used in the attack. The police official also told Dawn that at least 150 ball bearings were recovered from the scene.
Security officials before Islamic State’s acceptance of responsibility of the attack said that the modus operandi signaled that the Khorasan chapter of the Islamic State was responsible for the attack.
The locality where the blast occurred saw scenes of panic, according to Pakistan news agencies as locals flocked to the area to enquire if their near and dear ones were injured in the blast. The Dawn report highlighted that locals in the area mourned since they either lost a family member in the blast or suffered an injury as many locals went to the mosque for Friday prayers.
The recent attack comes amid Pakistan retaining its spot in the grey list of money-laundering watchdog FATF who urged the Pakistan leadership to do more to prosecute UN-designated terror groups. The Imran Khan-led government is also under pressure as homegrown Pakistan Taliban chapter Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan continues its unabated resurgence.
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