Suicide bomber kills at least 31 in Islamabad mosque attack
By Sophia Saifi, Azaz Syed, Sophie Tanno, CNN
(CNN) — A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and injured 169 during Friday prayers at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, authorities said.
The toll makes this the deadliest attack in the country since the Peshawar mosque blast in January 2023.
Internal investigations suggest that Pakistan’s Taliban, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was behind the attack, police sources told CNN. There has so far been no claim of responsibility.
The TTP is a Sunni Islamist militant group which considers Pakistan’s minority Shiites as heretics.
Pakistan has witnessed a rising wave of militancy in recent years, but attacks have been less frequent in the heavily fortified capital. A bombing in Islamabad in November, which killed 12, was the worst suicide attack to rock the capital in nearly two decades.
Images in the aftermath of Friday’s attack showed bodies covered in blood lying on the floor of the mosque surrounded by shards of glass and debris, Reuters reported.
Wounded lay in the gardens of the semi-urban area of Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah on the outskirts of the city.
The US embassy in Islamabad condemned the attack and offered its condolences to all affected. “The people of Pakistan deserve safety, dignity, and the ability to practice their faith without fear,” it said in a post on X.
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