PESHAWAR: The death toll in the suicide bombing in the Police Lines mosque in Peshawar has jumped to 83.
The rescue operation is still undergoing at the collapsed structure as rescuers are in the process of cutting the debris.
Security officials said the explosion took place around 1:40pm on Monday as Zuhr prayers were being offered as a result of which the roof of the mosque caved in. At least 157 persons were also wounded in the blast.
The blast said to be perpetrated by a suicide bomber took place at the mosque where a large number of people had gathered for prayer, police official Sikandar Khan said. “A portion of the building had collapsed and several people are believed to be under it,” Mr Khan added.
Most of the casualties were police officers. It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled compound, which houses the police headquarters in Peshawar and is itself located in a high-security zone with other government buildings.
More than 300 worshippers were praying in the mosque, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest. Many were injured when the roof came down, according to Zafar Khan, a police officer, and rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshippers still trapped under the rubble.
Police and rescuers shifted the injured to the Lady Reading Hospital and other health facilities. The authorities, who are still assessing the nature of the blast, immediately cordoned off the area.
Videos and pictures shared by social media users show horrific scenes as the injured drenched in blood were shifted to medical centres for first aid.
“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan,” tweeted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who visited the wounded in Peshawar and vowed “stern action” against those behind the bombing. He expressed his condolences to families of the victims, saying “their pain cannot be described in words.”
