MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Tuesday condemned the terrorist attack on a mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
On Monday, a suicide bomber set off an explosion in a mosque in Peshawar at about 13:40 local time (08:40 GMT). Around 120 people were reportedly inside the mosque when the blast went off, most of them members of the police and the army. Pakistani media reported that 93 people were killed, and 221 were injured.
"Terrorism in all its guises is abhorrent. My thoughts are with the families of those tragically killed in Peshawar. The UK stands with Pakistan against this horrific act of violence," Cleverly tweeted.
Media outlets reported that Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (associated with al-Qaeda that is banned in Russia) had claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Pakistani newspaper Dawn later reported that the radical Islamist organization had denied its involvement in the explosion, saying that its rules prohibited attacks on mosques and public places. At the same time, sources told the news outlet that some local units of the organization could be behind the attack.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is an Islamist alliance of several radical regional groups. It specifically opposes the governments of Pakistan and India, seeking to extend its influence to a number of regions of these states. The Taliban movement in Afghanistan (under UN sanctions over terrorism) denies any connection with the eponymous alliance.
