By RFE/RL
Pakistani authorities said four people have been arrested in connection with the suicide bomb attack that killed at least 32 people at a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in the capital, Islamabad, as they observed Friday Prayers.
Interior Ministry Moshin Naqvi on February 7 said the four are suspected of having helped the suicide bomber in the attack, which also injured some 170 worshippers in Tarlai, a suburb of Islamabad. Mosques across the Muslim world are traditionally crowded during Friday Prayers.
Naqvi told a news conference that the four people — including the suspected mastermind — were arrested following raids in Peshawar and Nowshera. Authorities did not immediately identify the suspects or detail possible motives.
Some reports said that five people had been arrested, but the number could not immediately be confirmed.
The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the deadliest terror strike in years in the Pakistani capital. In 2008, 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the exclusive Marriott Hotel.
Conflict monitor ACLED said the latest strike bore the “hallmarks of the Islamic State.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres said he condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack.
“Attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. Those responsible must be identified & brought to justice,” he wrote on social media.
Attacks in heavily guarded Islamabad are rare. However, Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces have been hit by violent Islamist and nationalist insurgencies, which pit the Pakistani Taliban and secular ethnic Baluch separatists against Pakistani security forces.
What’s Behind The Unprecedented Attacks In Pakistan’s Balochistan?
Following the latest attack, thousands of mourners gathered in Islamabad to begin burying the people who had died in the assault, while the capital city heightened security measures amid fears of further attacks.
Authorities said a man opened fire at the mosque compound before detonating a bomb, killing himself in the process.
Aun Shah, an eyewitness, said two attackers first shot dead the security guards of the mosque. He said some worshippers attempted to stop them by running toward them.
“As soon as [the attackers] reached the gate, one of them detonated his [explosive-laden] belt,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.
Video footage from the immediate aftermath of the attack showed bodies lying on the mosque floor amid debris. Scores of wounded were lying on the lawns of the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah mosque.
Pakistan is a Sunni majority nation of 240 million people, while Shi’ites make up to 15 percent of the population. Since the 1980s, thousands have been killed in sectarian violence that has often seen Shi’ites targeted by Sunni extremists.
Source: Pakistani Authorities Make First Arrests After Deadly Mosque Attack
