Plain-clothed policemen gather over the rubble of a damaged mosque following January’s 30 suicide blast inside the police headquarters in Peshawar on February 1, 2023. AFP.
Peshawar: The suicide bomber in Peshawar mosque blast incident was wearing a police uniform and helmet when he exploded himself during the afternoon prayer on Monday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari said on Thursday.
The explosion occurred on the mosque situated at a police headquarters in northwest Pakistan killing 101 people and injuring several others.
‘Closing in’ on terror network
The police officer said that the cops were “closing in” on the terror network behind the suicide attack on Peshawar mosque.
On 30 January, the day when the suicide bombing attack occurred, hundreds of police were attending the afternoon prayers. The mosque compound in Peshawar’s Red zone area is tightly controlled as around 300 to 400 people – mostly police officers – gather for prayers.
The blast blew off the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof of the building, crushing police officers.
Security lapse?
The pertinent question in the minds of people is despite the mosque being situated in a high security area, how could the suicide bomber made his way inside the premises.
“Those on duty didn’t check him because he was in a police uniform… It was a security lapse,” Ansari told media.
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“This was a suicide bomber and we have traced him… we have obtained the CCTV footage of his movement from Khyber Road to the Police Lines… then how he parked his motorcycle on a side… he was in a police uniform and was wearing a mask and a helmet,” the officer said.
The cop further said that the suicide bomber entered the main gate on a motorcycle at 12:37 pm. “He then came inside, talked to a constable and asked him where the mosque was. This means that the attacker was not aware of the area… he was given a target and there is an entire network behind him… he was not a lone wolf,” he added.
The police further said that the cops have traced the attacker’s motorcycle as well. “Investigation is a process that will require time, we are doing it diligently but it will require some patience,” Ansari said.
‘Entire network’ behind Peshawar mosque attack
Police said that they have a “fair idea” about who the bomber after his head found at the scene was matched with CCTV images.
“There’s an entire network behind him,” Ansari said, adding that the bomber had not planned the assault alone.
Security forces are investigating how a major breach could happen in the most sensitive areas that houses intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus and is in close proximity to the regional secretariat.
Attacker carried 10-12 kg explosive
The senior police officer said that 10-12 kg of TNT, a high explosive, was used in the blast. “In trinitrotoluene blasts, the shockwaves have no space to go anywhere,” Ansari said, adding that this was the reason for the large number of casualties.
“The 50-year-old mosque at the Peshawar Police Lines did not have pillars… so when the bomb exploded, the walls and roof caved in. My children (the people inside the mosque) were trapped under the rubble for hours,” the police officer said.
The Peshawar mosque blast on Monday was Pakistan’s deadliest assault in several years and the worst since violence began to resurge in the region after the Afghan Taliban takeover in Kabul on 15 August, 2021.
Police are also investigating the possibility that people inside the compound helped to coordinate the attack. “We have detained people from the police line (headquarters) to get to the bottom of how the explosive material made its way in and to see if any police officials were also involved in the attack,” news agency AFP quoted Ansari as saying.
At least 23 people, including some from the nearby former tribal areas that border Afghanistan, had been detained, police said.
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