Pakistan · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
Tehrik-E-Taliban Pakistan Suicide Attack Kills At Least 27 in Kohat Mosque Blast
Explosives-laden vehicle rammed the Kohat police mosque, triggering a gunbattle. Casualties include police officers and civilians; death toll cited between 16 and 27.
Whether TTP claimed responsibility.
4 of 6 outlets skipped it: saudi Arabia condemned the attack and offered condolences.
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Al Jazeera
“A faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility.”Read the original ↗
Al Jazeera reports TTP factions claimed responsibility. Reuters says no group immediately claimed responsibility.
Kohat mosque blast
A suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden car into a mosque at a police headquarters in Kohat, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers.
“At least 16 people were killed and 57 wounded”
Reuters said the attack killed at least 16 people and wounded 57, with five police officers among the dead after the vehicle smashed into the outer wall and gunmen opened fire.R
AP said the bombing killed at least 21 people and wounded 80, with gunmen attempting to storm the compound and six of the gunmen killed, while one suicide bomber attacked a nearby intelligence agency office.
Al Jazeera reported that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack, and that the blast and subsequent gun battle killed at least 27 people, including six civilians and 15 police officers.A
In the immediate aftermath, Dr Tahir Shah told dpa that at least 15 bodies and more than 50 injured were taken to hospital, while sources told Al Jazeera that at least 75 people were injured.
Claims, denials, and officials
No group immediately claimed responsibility in the accounts cited by AP and Reuters, but Reuters reported that the interior ministry said the "cowardly actions" of the attackers could not weaken the "nation's firm resolve."R
Al Jazeera said a faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility, and that Ittehadul Mujahideen linked to Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur said they carried out the suicide bomb attack.A
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bomb attack and directed authorities to accelerate rescue operations, while the Ministry of Interior said the "cowardly actions" of the attackers could not weaken the "nation’s firm resolve".
BBC reported that Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari expressed "his best wishes for the swift recovery of those injured in the explosion" in a statement, and that the blast occurred around 13:15 local time (08:15 GMT) while Friday prayers were taking place.
The BBC also quoted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police Insp Gen Zulfikar Hameed describing it as a "suicide attack," and said Reuters reported police had confirmed all seven attackers were killed in the explosion and the gun battle that followed.R
Regional tensions and next steps
The attack in Kohat came the day after a roadside bomb killed six soldiers in a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district, and Reuters and other accounts described a broader surge in militant violence near the border with Afghanistan.R
“Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of allowing the TTP”
Al Jazeera said Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of allowing the TTP and other groups that orchestrate attacks to operate from Afghan territory, while officials in Kabul deny the accusation.A
BBC reported that Islamabad says militants use Afghanistan as a safe haven to train and plan attacks in Pakistan, and that Afghanistan's Taliban government denies the charge and says militancy is Pakistan's domestic problem.
In the immediate response, AP said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed authorities to accelerate rescue operations, while Reuters reported that the interior ministry said the attackers could not weaken the "nation's firm resolve."R
The Economic Times said the Kohat-Hangu Road was closed to all traffic and additional police contingents were deployed near the police lines, and it quoted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police chief Hameed saying the "entire nation stands with the security forces to eradicate terrorism".