Breaking: Over 15 People Killed Inside Mosque as Details Emerge
- A vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a mosque near the police headquarters in Kohat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Five of the 16 people killed in the Pakistan mosque bombing were police officers, with a gun battle still raging between attackers and security forces
- Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both responded to the attack, as no group claimed responsibility
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At least 16 people, among them five police officers, have been killed after a bomb-laden vehicle crashed into a mosque in the Kohat district of north-western Pakistan, a senior police official in Peshawar confirmed.
The blast targeted a mosque located close to the Kohat police headquarters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief inspector general Zulfikar Hameed described the incident as a "sulcide attack", according to Reuters.
Source: Twitter
A gun battle between the remaining attackers and security forces was still under way at the time of reporting, with one assailant confirmed dead.
A rescue operation has been launched to assist survivors.
Pakistan leaders condemn the attack
President Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement expressing "his best wishes for the swift recovery of those injured in the explosion."
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the bombing. No group had immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Rising militancy along Pakistan's border
The Kohat attack comes amid a marked increase in militant activity in Pakistan's border regions, with the military and police bearing the brunt of recent strikes. The Pakistani government has repeatedly accused armed groups of using Afghan territory as a base from which to organise and carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
Islamabad maintains that militants exploit safe havens in Afghanistan to plan and train before crossing the border. Afghanistan's Taliban-led government has rejected the accusation, insisting that militancy is a domestic issue for Pakistan to resolve.
Source: Legit.ng
