{"id":2632,"date":"2023-01-31T07:08:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T18:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=2632"},"modified":"2023-01-31T07:08:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T18:08:34","slug":"pakistan-mosque-blast-police-targeted-in-attack-that-kills-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=2632","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan mosque blast: Police targeted in attack that kills 59"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least 59 people have been killed by a bomb that apparently targeted policemen praying in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The mosque is within the tightly-guarded police headquarters area.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said “terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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No group has said it carried out the attack, but it has been linked to the Pakistan Taliban.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The group ended a ceasefire in November, and violence has been on the rise since.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In December it targeted a police station – like Peshawar, in the\u00a0north-west of the country<\/a>\u00a0– leading to the deaths of 33 militants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Early unconfirmed reports said a bomber had blown himself up in the mosque on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A hospital spokesman told the BBC the death toll stands at 59, while 157 people were injured.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told local media that between 300 and 400 police officials were in the area at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The mosque is in one of the most tightly controlled areas of the city, which includes police headquarters and intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement, PM Sharif said those behind the attack “have nothing to do with Islam”. He added: “The entire nation is standing united against the menace of terrorism.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The blast took place around 13:30 (08:30 GMT) during afternoon prayers in the north-western city, near the country’s border with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A video circulating on social media and verified by the BBC showed that half of a wall caved in. The mosque was covered in bricks and debris as people clambered over the rubble to escape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A rescue operation is continuing inside the mosque and “more bodies are being taken out,” Peshawar city Deputy Commissioner Shafiullah Khan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Currently our priority is to save people buried under the debris,” Mr Khan added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

SOURCE BBC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 59 people have been killed by a bomb that apparently targeted policemen praying in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan. The mosque is within the tightly-guarded police headquarters area. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said “terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan”. No group has said it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2634,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2632\/revisions\/2634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}