A recent suicide bombing at a Shi’ite Muslim mosque that occurred during prayers in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed no fewer than 58 people and injured around 200 people, hospital officials said.
In a statement, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, which would make it one of the biggest attacks perpetrated by the group inside Pakistan.
While narrating the incident, Senior Police Officer, Haroon Rasheed said an armed man who surfaced near the mosque on a motorcycle fired shots when he was stopped by the police before he forced his way into a crowded hall and detonated his suicide vest.
He said the attacker first shot at the police guards who were at the mosque’s entrance and killed one of them.
He said: “The armed man entered the mosque and started firing on the worshippers and finally blew himself up.”
Police had previously said they were two men on the motorcycle.
The attack is one of the worst attacks on Pakistan’s Shi’ite minority, a group which has long been targeted by Sunni Muslim Islamist militants which include Islamic State and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as Pakistani Taliban.
However, the Pakistani Taliban have distanced themselves from the attack in a statement released.
While updating the previous toll, officials at the nearby Lady Reading Hospital said a lot of the injured were in critical condition.
