The United States condemns the recent terrorist attack on a mosque in Pakistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2023) The United States condemns the recent terrorist attack on a mosque in Pakistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
"The United States strongly condemns the January 30 bombing at a mosque in Peshawar's Police Lines district. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the many who lost their lives as a result of this senseless act of terrorism," Blinken said in a statement.
Washington supports the Pakistani government in its efforts to combat terrorism, he added.
On Monday, a suicide attacker set off an explosion at the mosque in Peshawar. Approximately 120 people were inside the mosque when the blast went off, most of them members of the army and police, Pakistani media reported. As a result of the attack, at least 100 people were killed and 221 others injured, according to the latest data.
On Tuesday, Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that 97 out of the 100 killed were police officers. He added that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (associated with al-Qaeda, a terrorist group banned in Russia) had claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Pakistani newspaper Dawn 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 still be behind the attack.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is an Islamist alliance of several regional radical 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 to the eponymous alliance.
