Peshawar: A teenage suicide bomber struck a mosque packed with Friday worshippers, killing 67 people and injuring 70 others in the restive Darra Adam Khel region of northwest Pakistan today, in one of the country's worst terrorist attacks this year.
Hours after the deadly attack, at least three persons were killed and dozens injured in a bomb blast at a mosque on the outskirts of Peshawar on Friday.
In the first incident, the bomber struck while 'Jumma' prayers were underway in the mosque at Attariwal village in Akhorwal area, 45 km south of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital Peshawar.
Part of the mosque's ceiling collapsed and people were buried under the debris, officials said. Sixty-seven people were killed and 70 others injured,
Assistant Political Agent Sayed Gul Jamal told PTI.
The death toll could rise as many of the injured are in a critical condition, Kohat district administration chief Shahidullah Khan said.
Officials said the bomber was a youth aged about 17 or 18 years who managed to enter the mosque, located near the 'hujra' (guesthouse) of pro-government tribal elder Malik Wali Khan.
An Official Shahidullah Khan said authorities received warnings about such attacks almost on a daily basis.
Kohat Commissioner Khalid Umarzai told the media that authorities were expecting such attacks due to operations being conducted by security forces against the Taliban in Darra Adam Khel and nearby tribal areas.
The local chapter of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.
Tribal elder Malik Wali Khan had formed a 'lashkar' or anti-Taliban militia in 2008 to crush militants in the area. However, he later agreed to patch up with the rebels after making a payment to the Taliban, sources said. Khan then shifted to Lahore and began living there.
Witnesses said the blast occurred as the Imam was delivering the sermon to worshippers sitting in rows. They said they had seen blood and human flesh
spattered all over the mosque. Officials said the bomber's suicide vest contained 10 to 15 kg of explosives.
Many of the bodies and injured were taken to the state-run Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where authorities declared an emergency.
Officials at the hospital said two children were among the bodies they had received. Several children were also among the injured, they said.
The area where the attack was carried out is the hub of a Taliban faction led by Tariq Afridi who was blamed for several high-profile kidnappings, including the abduction of Peshawar-based Afghan diplomat Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Pakistan's former envoy to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin and a Polish engineer.
Azizuddin was freed after the payment of ransom while the Polish engineer was beheaded by his kidnappers last year.
Officials said the bomber wanted to target pro-government tribesmen.
The second blast occurred at a mosque at Salman Khel in Badabher, located about 10 km south of Peshawar, while evening prayers were underway.
Officials told the media that three persons were killed by the blast, the nature of which could not immediately be ascertained. Officials at the state-run Lady Reading Hospital said they had received about 30 injured persons.
TV news channels reported that the imam of the mosque was among the dead.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the killing of innocent worshippers in a mosque during 'Jumma' prayers.
Gilani said such acts clearly show that militants have no regard for any religion or creed. He said they were pursuing their own agenda based on
self-centred ideas and dogmas.
"They are surely the enemies of the state and the people," he said.
The fight against militants will continue till their complete elimination and people should help the government in its "drive to root out this cancer from our society", Gilani said.
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