Suicide Bomb Rocks Shia Mosque During Friday Prayers In Pakistan, At Least 30 Dead

Illustration. (Unsplash/Stephen Radford)

JAKARTA - A suicide bombing at a Shia mosque during Friday prayers in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least 30 people, police and hospital officials said.

The death toll is expected to rise substantially as many of the injured are in critical condition, police and hospital officials said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest in recent years against Pakistan's Shi'ite minority which has long been a target for Sunni Islamist militants, including Islamic State and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Islamic State. Pakistani Taliban.

"We are in a state of emergency and the injured are being transferred to the hospital," police officer Mohammad Sajjad Khan told Reuters, as quoted by March 4.

In recent years, Pakistan's military has curbed near-daily attacks by suppressing militant groups.

Mohammad Aasim, a spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital where the victims were taken, told Reuters they had received more than 30 bodies.

Meanwhile, senior police official Ijaz Khan confirmed that at least 30 people were killed, with the incident being judged as a suicide bombing.

He told Reuters two gunmen arrived near the mosque on motorbikes and were stopped for a search by police on duty outside.

"They opened fire on the police and entered the mosque," he said.

Police are still determining whether the two carried out a suicide attack inside the mosque. Separately, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the bombing, according to his office.

To note, the attack took place as the Australian cricket team toured Pakistan for the first time in more than two decades, living in Islamabad, 140 kilometers (87 miles) from Peshawar.

Moreover, Pakistan has recently started hosting international teams again, after security concerns forced them to move many of their famous international hosts to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).