PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber blew up a packed mosque near the Afghan border at the climax of a Friday prayer service, killing 48 people and wounding scores more in the worst attack to hit Pakistan this year.
Islamic militants were suspected in the blast in the Khyber Pass, apparently to avenge military operations in the area aimed at protecting the major supply route for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, authorities said. The route passes in front of the mosque.
The bomber sneaked into the mosque and detonated his explosives during the hour-long service, which observant Muslims around the world attend at noon Fridays, witnesses said. Several security officers were killed in the attack.
“As the prayer leader said ‘God is great,’ the bomb went off with a big bang,” said Nadir Shah, a paramilitary soldier who was treated for head wounds in the nearby city of Peshawar. “I felt it was the end of everything. Sometime later when I opened my eyes, I was lying among dead bodies.”
The powerful blast collapsed most of the two-story whitewashed building. Residents and police dug with their hands through the bricks and wood for survivors, but mostly they pulled out corpses.
Militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan have often killed scores of Pakistani civilians in attacks. Mosques and funerals have been targeted before, but Friday’s blast struck many as plumbing new depths of evil.
“What kind of holy war is this? Only poor people have been killed,” said Asfandyar Wali, head of the ruling secular party in the northwest. “This is not about implementing Islamic law, this is not about holy war. This is outright insurgency.”
Recent attacks in Pakistan
Friday: A suicide bomber destroys a mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud, killing 48 people and injuring scores during Friday prayers.
Feb. 20: A suicide attack at a funeral for a slain Shiite Muslim leader kills 30 people and injures more than 60 outside a mosque in Dera Ismail Khan.
Dec. 28: A bomber blows himself up at a polling station during a local election in the northwestern Buner district, killing 40 people.
Dec. 4: A car bomb outside a Shiite mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar kills 29 people and wounds more than 100 others.
Sept. 20: A suicide truck bomb kills at least 54 and wounds more than 250, devastating the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
The Associated Press
