31 killed in suicide attack at Shia mosque in Pakistan
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shia mosque during Friday prayers in Pakistan’s Capital, killing at least 31 people and injuring nearly 170 others, officials said. The powerful explosion took place at Khadijatul Kubra mosque-cum-imambargah in the Tarlai area of Islamabad, the police said in a statement. The suicide bomber was stopped at the gate of the imambargah, but he detonated himself, police and eyewitnesses said.
At least 31 people were killed and 169 others injured in the explosion, a district administration spokesperson said in a post on X. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. However, police sources said that the attacker was a foreign national and had links with Fitna al Khwaraji, a term used for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In a post on X, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon earlier said that more than 80 people were injured in the blast, while 15 bodies were shifted to different hospitals.
Police and Rescue 1122 personnel reached the site of the incident and initiated rescue operations. The army troops and Rangers have cordoned off the area, and security operations are underway in and around the site of the blast. An emergency was declared in the hospitals of the capital to deal with the situation, as the injured were being shifted to hospitals. The attack came less than three months after a suicide bomber killed 12 people in a blast outside a district and sessions court building in Islamabad.
Today’s attack came when Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was visiting Pakistan. He arrived on a two-day State visit on Thursday. President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas condemned the attack. “Targeting innocent civilians is a crime against humanity,” Zardari said. Strongly condemning the attack, Abbas said that targeting places of worship is a direct attack on humanity, religion and social values, which cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.
According to police officials, the nature of the explosion was being probed, but the explosion seems to be a suicide attack. Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry visited the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad and met the injured. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry strongly condemned the attack in a post on social media platform X, expressing grief over the loss of lives in the “cowardly act”.
“Such acts of terrorism cannot dampen the morale of the nation. The need of the hour is that we all stand united for peace, tolerance, and stability, and express solidarity with law enforcement agencies,” the minister stressed. Chaudhry is a native of Islamabad and belongs to the area where the blast occurred. Locals gathering outise mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Security forces kill 24 terrorists in KPP
Peshawar: Pakistani security forces have killed 24 terrorists in two separate intelligence-based operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military’s media wing said on Friday. “On 4-5 February, twenty four khawarij belonging to Fitna-al-Khawarij were killed in two separate engagements in KPK province,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term used by the state for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Two intelligence-based operations were conducted in the province’s Orakzai and Khyber districts. During the operation conducted in Orakzai district, troops engaged the terrorists and killed 14 terrorists. While in Khyber, during the conduct of another IBO, security forces killed 10 terrorists. Following the engagements, security forces conducted sanitisation operations in the areas “to eliminate any other sponsored khawarij found in the area”.
The military’s media wing added that the counter-terrorism operations, conducted under the vision of ‘Azm e Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies, will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism from the country. Earlier in January, 11 terrorists were killed in two separate IBOs in KPK. Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorism since the TTP ended its ceasefire deal with the Government in November 2022, vowing to increase attacks. Despite record militant deaths, Pakistan saw a sharp escalation in militant violence in 2025.
