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Security personnel stand guard outside a mosque following an explosion in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
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.
It was the deadliest attack in the country since January 2023, when a blast at a mosque in the north-western city of Peshawar killed more than one hundred people.
“We had just begun the prayer when we heard the sound of gunfire, followed by a powerful explosion,” a worshipper at the mosque, Syed Ameer Hussain Shah, 47, told CNN.
“I got injured as well. At that time, the mosque hall was full, with more than 400 worshippers inside.”
Pakistan has witnessed a rising wave of militancy in recent years, but attacks have been less frequent in the heavily guarded capital. A bombing in Islamabad in November, which killed 12, was the deadliest suicide attack to rock the capital in nearly two decades.
Early investigations had pointed the finger of suspicion at Pakistan’s Taliban, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), police sources said, but the TTP issued a statement saying it had “no connection whatsoever” with Friday’s attack.
“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s targets are clear and well-defined: Pakistan’s security institutions and their collaborators,” it added.
Images in the aftermath of the attack showed bodies covered in blood lying on the floor of the mosque surrounded by shards of glass and debris.
The US embassy in Islamabad condemned the attack. “Acts of terror and violence against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable,” it said on X. “The people of Pakistan deserve safety, dignity, and the ability to practice their faith without fear.”
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said the targeting of innocent civilians was “a crime against humanity,” and the entire nation stood “shoulder to shoulder with the families affected,” the AP news agency reported.
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