People attend a funeral of victims following a blast in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar on March 5, 2022. (Str/Xinhua)
The terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) has killed 63 and injured nearly 200 in Peshawar city of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving people in panic and grief.
by Misbah Saba Malik
ISLAMABAD, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Hussain Ali, a local journalist in Peshawar city of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was offering usual Friday prayers when he received a phone call about a blast in a mosque in the downtown city.
"I rushed to the site for coverage. I saw gruesome images...," Ali told Xinhua.
Suddenly, among the rescue workers and people who reached the mosque to find their relatives, "I saw my cousin hysterically sifting through the dead bodies and screaming in panic, and he also caught a glance of me and rushed to me to break the news that my uncle, also his father, came to offer prayer in the mosque and went missing after the explosion."
A few minutes after a failed search, they decided to go to Lady Reading Hospital where the bodies and the injured were being shifted and found out that the 55-year-old, was among the over 30 deaths at that time.
"He was a gentleman, always smiling and forthcoming in helping others. Everyone in the family and community liked him. I wonder why he and other innocent people like him were attacked? We are so panicked that even our own shadow scares us and we don't want to leave our houses in the fear of more attacks," Ali told Xinhua.
People transfer victims to a hospital following a blast in Peshawar, Pakistan, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Saeed Ahmad/Xinhua)
According to a spokesperson of the Lady Reading Hospital, 57 bodies were handed over to relatives on Friday, and six more succumbed to injuries at the hospital, raising the death toll to 63.
The spokesperson added that about 200 injured were also shifted to the facility, out of which 37 are still being treated, while others were discharged after treatment.
The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed the attack in a Twitter post.
In a press briefing on Saturday, Capital City Police Officer of Peshawar Muhammad Ijaz told media that a "well-trained" suicide bomber entered the mosque after shooting one policeman dead deployed on the security of the mosque and injuring the other, and blew himself up among the people who were gathering inside the prayer hall.
Security has been beefed up in the province and across the country, following the attack and an additional police force has been deployed at religious places.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and said that he had been personally monitoring operations and coordinating with the counter-terrorism department in the wake of the terrorist attack.
Rescuers cordon off the blast site in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Saeed Ahmad/Xinhua)
"We now have all info regarding origins of where the terrorists came from and are going after them with full force," he added.
The country's Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad also said in a video message on Saturday that the handlers of the suicide bomber have been identified and the law enforcement agencies will be able to apprehend them.
Peshawar used to be a hotbed of militancy as it is located next to formerly restive tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, but the security situation remarkably improved after military operations in the tribal districts to eradicate militancy.
The attack also brought back the gory memories of past attacks to the rescue workers.
Sher Gul from the non-governmental rescue organization Edhi Foundation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said "This level of havoc was wrecked after years in Peshawar. The terrorism was defeated and people were living in peace. The shadow of the painful past during which we lost thousands of people to terrorism was almost removed, but this fresh attack has once again sent shockwaves to the whole country and this wound will take a lot of time to heal." ■
