The death toll from a suicide bombing at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan rose to 88 on Tuesday, officials said. The assault, on a Sunni mosque inside a major police facility, was one of the deadliest attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent years.
More than 300 worshippers were praying in the mosque in the city of Peshawar, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest on Monday morning. The blast ripped through the mosque, killing and injuring scores and also blew off a part of the roof.
What was left of the roof then caved in, injuring many more, according to Zafar Khan, a police officer. Rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshippers still trapped under the rubble.
More bodies were retrieved overnight and early Tuesday, according to Mohammad Asim, a government hospital spokesman in Peshawar, and several of those critically injured died. “Most of them were policemen,” Asim said of the victims.
Bilal Faizi, the chief rescue official, said rescue teams were still working Tuesday at the site as more people are believed trapped inside. Mourners were burying the victims at different graveyards in the city and elsewhere. The bombing also wounded more than 150 people.
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