Three individuals have been apprehended in connection with a devastating assault on a mosque in Pakistan. The attack at Khadija Tul Kubra Mosque in Islamabad resulted in the tragic loss of 31 lives and left a minimum of 169 individuals injured. Pakistani authorities took into custody two siblings of the suspected attacker and a female accomplice in Peshawar as part of an ongoing inquiry.
Footage from television broadcasts and social media depicted the efforts of police and locals in transporting the wounded to nearby medical facilities. Reports indicated that some of the individuals injured in the assault at the expansive Khadija Al-Kubra Mosque were in critical condition.
Eyewitnesses and rescuers recounted a distressing scene, with casualties and injured individuals strewn across the mosque’s carpeted premises. Hussain Shah narrated that he was engaged in prayers in the mosque’s courtyard when a loud explosion reverberated. Upon entering the mosque, he encountered a tumultuous environment, with many of the wounded crying out for assistance.
An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the incident. Through its Amaq News Agency, Islamic State in Pakistan asserted that the assailant engaged security personnel at the main gate before detonating an explosive device upon reaching the mosque’s inner entrance.
The Islamic State group indicated its targeting of Pakistani Shiites, labeling them as a “human reservoir” that aids Shiite militias combating the Islamic State in Syria. This bombing constitutes the deadliest attack in Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing that claimed 63 lives. In November, a suicide bombing outside a court in the capital resulted in the deaths of 12 individuals.
The recent attack coincides with a rise in militant assaults across Pakistan during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration. Authorities disclosed that the attacker was a Pakistani national who had recently traveled to Afghanistan. Several suspects, including the bomber’s relatives, were detained in overnight raids in Islamabad and northwestern Pakistan, during which a police officer lost his life.
Over 2,000 mourners gathered at the mosque to bid farewell to the victims, with senior officials and Shiite community leaders attending the funerals of approximately a dozen individuals. The extremist group IS, being Sunni, has previously targeted Pakistan’s Shiite minority in efforts to incite sectarian divisions within the predominantly Sunni nation.
In a separate incidence in 2022, IS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Peshawar, resulting in the deaths of at least 56 individuals and injuring 194 others.