Pakistan bombing death toll rises to 72; Attempts are being made to identify the attackers
The death toll from a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in northwestern Pakistan has risen to 72 at night. Police on Saturday said they were trying to identify the bomber after seeing two severed legs found at the scene.
Police also released CCTV footage of Friday's attack, where two men were seen shooting at a man wearing a traditional salwar kameez as he entered a mosque in the Kocha Risaldar area of Peshawar, 190 kilometers (120 miles) from the capital Islamabad.
The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a mosque, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told AFP that six bodies, including two amputated legs, could not be identified. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police recruiting center.
He said the death toll, including six children under the age of 10, now stands at 72.
It was the deadliest attack since July 2016. A bomb blast near the northern city of Mosul has killed at least 149 people, and a local branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.
Peshawar, 50 kilometers from Afghanistan's conflict-prone border, was the target of frequent militant attacks in early 2010. However, security has been beefed up in recent years.
Pakistan, a Sunni-majority country, has been battling the recent rise of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an internal branch of the Taliban in Pakistan.
A one-month deal failed last year, and there are fears that the TTP, which has targeted Shia Muslims in the past, may feel overwhelmed by the success of the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a video message, "Police will be able to catch them in the next couple of days. Already, members of the local Shia community are sending bodies to their village homes for burial.
The blast happened on the first day of Test cricket between Pakistan and Australia. No team has visited Pakistan for almost 25 years due to security concerns.
[AFP]
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