Islamabad, Pakistan
CNN
—
The suicide bomber who targeted a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, killing more than 80 people, was a member of the Pakistani Taliban disguised as police, a senior official said on Sunday. Thursday.
CCTV footage shows the suspected bomber arriving at a police checkpoint on a scooter on Monday, asking a police officer the way to the mosque and being let go because he was wearing a uniform, Moazzam Jah Ansari, police chief of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said.
“This is a suicide bomber and we have tracked his movements. He was wearing a police uniform,” Ansari said.
“We are shutting down online. Every life of our martyrs will be avenged,” he added.
Ansari said officials had previously put the death toll at more than 100, but some bodies had been counted twice. The explosion also injured 217 people.
The incident comes a day after police in Peshawar arrested several suspects.
Police believe the bomber used 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds) of explosives.
The video shows the walls of the mosque being destroyed, its windows and glass panels destroyed by the powerful explosion.
Emergency workers searched for survivors, but authorities said most of those found under the rubble were already dead.
Monday’s explosion highlighted the deteriorating security situation in Peshawar, the capital of the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan and a frequent site of attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, which has been reported by the Pakistani Taliban. called Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP).
TTP sent conflicting messages about whether they were behind the attack.
TTP officials Sarbakaf Mohmand and Omar Mukaram Khurasani previously said the explosion was “revenge” for the death of TTP fighter Khalid Khorasani last year.
However, the main spokesman for TTP, Muhammad Khorasani, later denied the group was involved.
The attack comes during difficult times for Pakistan, which is also grappling with a cost-of-living crisis and a slumping economy made worse by devastating floods last year.
