ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber targeted a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers, killing 31 people and wounding at least 169 others, officials said, a rare bombing in Pakistan’s capital as its Western-allied government struggles to rein in a surge in militant attacks across the country.
Television footage and social media images showed police and residents transporting the wounded to nearby hospitals. Some of the wounded in the attack on the sprawling mosque of Khadija Al-Kubra were reported to be in critical condition.
Rescuers and witnesses described a harrowing scene, with bodies and wounded lying on the mosque’s carpeted floor. Hussain Shah said he was praying in the mosque courtyard when he heard a sudden, loud explosion.
“I immediately thought that some big attack had happened,” he said. He then went into the mosque to utter chaos — many of the wounded were screaming and crying out for help. Shah said he counted around 30 bodies inside the mosque, while the number of the wounded appeared to be significantly higher.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but suspicion is likely to fall on militants such as the Pakistani Taliban or the Daesh group, which has been blamed for previous attacks on Shiite worshippers, a minority in the country. Militant groups across Pakistan often target security forces and civilians.
A surge in militant attacks
Though attacks are not so frequent in Islamabad, Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months, largely blamed on Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is a separate group, but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. A regional affiliate of the Daesh group has also been active in the country.
In the initial aftermath of the explosion, a lower number of casualties was released, but Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Memon gave the latest tolls.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif wrote on X that preliminary findings suggest the suicide bomber had been on the move to and from Afghanistan. Asif said the mosque’s security guards tried to intercept the suspect, who opened fire at them and then detonated his explosives among the worshippers.
The condition of the guards was not immediately known. Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power again in August 2021 as American and NATO troops were withdrawing after a 20-year war, of harboring militants and members of the Pakistani Taliban. Kabul denies the accusation.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Friday saying that the “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan condemns such attacks that violate the sanctity of sacred rituals and mosques and target worshippers and innocent people.”
The attack also drew condemnation from the international community, including the United Sates and European Union. Condolences and condemnation also poured in from various embassies in Islamabad.
Political and religious leaders condemn the attack
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended condolences to the families of the victims in sperate statements and asked that all possible medical assistance be provided for those wounded.
“Targeting innocent civilians is a crime against humanity,” Zardari said. “The nation stands with the affected families in this difficult time.”
“Those who are responsible must be identified and punished,” Sharif said. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack.
Friday’s attack occurred as Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who is on an official two-day visit, was attending an event with Sharif. The event in Islamabad was several miles away from the site of the explosion.
A top Shiite leader, Raja Nasir, expressed deep sorrow over the attack at Khadija Al-Kubra.
“Such a terrorist act in the federal capital is not only a serious failure in protecting human lives but also raises significant questions about the performance of the authorities and law enforcement agencies,” he said and asked for people to give blood as the hospitals in Islamabad were in urgent need for blood supplies for the wounded.
The last deadliest attack in Islamabad was in 2008, when a suicide bombing targeted the Marriott Hotel in the capital, killing 63 people and wounding over 250 others. In November, a suicide bomber had struck outside a court in Islamabad, killing 12 people.
The latest attack came nearly a week after the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army carried out multiple attacks in insurgency-hit southwestern Balochistan province, killing about 50 people.
Security forces responding to those attacks also killed more than 200 “terrorists,” according to the military.
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Suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque on Islamabad’s outskirts kills at least 31 and wounds scores
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Suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque on Islamabad’s outskirts kills at least 31 and wounds scores
- Television footage and social media images showed police and residents transporting the wounded to nearby hospitals
- No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but suspicion is likely to fall on militants such as the Pakistani Taliban or the Daesh group
Vatican offers dialogue with breakaway Latin Mass traditionalist group, but with a catch
- The Society of St. Pius X has been a thorn in the side of the Holy See for four decades
- SSPX first broke with Rome in 1988 after its founder consecrated four bishops without papal consent
ROME: The Vatican warned a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group on Thursday that it risked going into schism if it goes ahead with plans to consecrate new bishops without papal consent, setting a hard line against a big doctrinal challenge facing Pope Leo XIV.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, issued the warning during a meeting Thursday with the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the Vatican said. The meeting was scheduled after the Swiss-based society, which celebrates the traditional Latin Mass but isn’t in communion with Rome, announced plans to consecrate new bishops July 1 without papal consent.
Fernandez offered a new round of theological talks to regularize the SSPX’s status, but only if it calls off the planned ceremony.
Pagliarani, for his part, defended the new consecrations but said he would take the Vatican proposal to his counselors for a final decision, which is expected in a few days, the SSPX said in a statement.
The SSPX has been a thorn in the side of the Holy See for four decades, founded in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which among other things allowed Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular.
The SSPX first broke with Rome in 1988, after its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without papal consent, arguing that it was necessary for the survival of the church’s tradition. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four other bishops, and the group today still has no legal status in the Catholic Church.
But in the decades since that original break with Rome, the group has continued to grow, with schools, seminaries and parishes around the world and branches of priests, nuns and lay Catholics who are attached to the pre-Vatican II traditional Latin Mass.
Growth of a parallel church
According to SSPX statistics, it counts two bishops, 733 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, a Catholic reality that poses a real threat to Rome because of the specter of the growth of a parallel church.
For the Vatican, papal consent for the consecration of bishops is a fundamental doctrine, guaranteeing the lineage of apostolic succession from the time of Christ’s original apostles. As a result, the consecration of bishops without papal consent is considered a grave threat to church unity and a cause of schism, since bishops can ordain new priests. Under church law, a consecration without papal consent incurs an automatic excommunication for the person who celebrates it and the purported new bishop.
Pagliarani has said in comments on the SSPX website, and in the SSPX statement, that the consecrations of new bishops are necessary for the society’s survival, because the remaining two are getting old and are increasingly unable to tend to the needs of SSPX members around the world.
Offer of dialogue, with a catch
During the talks Thursday at the Vatican, Fernandez offered to open a theological dialogue with the SSPX to address concerns that they have outlined to the Vatican starting in 2017, especially concerning Catholic relations with other religions.
The aim, according to the Vatican statement, would be to identify the minimum points of agreement necessary to bring the SSPX back into communion with the Holy See and outline a legal status so it could exist within the church.
But it warned that such a dialogue would require the suspension of the planned bishop consecrations. Going ahead with them, the Vatican warned, “would imply a decisive break in the ecclesial communion (schism) with grave consequences for the Fraternity.”
Pagliarani justified the ordination of new bishops as both “realistic and reasonable,” given the number of people who attend SSPX Masses.
Long history of dialogue
The Vatican has tried for years to reconcile with the SSPX. Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 lifted the excommunications of the surviving bishops and relaxed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass.
While offering some gestures to the SSPX, Francis reversed Benedict’s reform that allowed greater celebration of the old Latin Mass, arguing it had become a source of division in the church.
Catholic traditionalists say Francis’ crackdown had the result of pushing more faithful who were in communion with Rome into the arms of the breakaway SSPX, since they couldn’t find Latin Masses that were permitted by Rome.
Leo has acknowledged the tensions and sought to pacify the debate, expressing an openness to dialogue and allowing exceptions to Francis’ crackdown.
The Vatican, for example, said that Leo had explicitly approved Thursday’s encounter, which it described as “cordial and sincere.”
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, issued the warning during a meeting Thursday with the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the Vatican said. The meeting was scheduled after the Swiss-based society, which celebrates the traditional Latin Mass but isn’t in communion with Rome, announced plans to consecrate new bishops July 1 without papal consent.
Fernandez offered a new round of theological talks to regularize the SSPX’s status, but only if it calls off the planned ceremony.
Pagliarani, for his part, defended the new consecrations but said he would take the Vatican proposal to his counselors for a final decision, which is expected in a few days, the SSPX said in a statement.
The SSPX has been a thorn in the side of the Holy See for four decades, founded in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which among other things allowed Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular.
The SSPX first broke with Rome in 1988, after its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without papal consent, arguing that it was necessary for the survival of the church’s tradition. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four other bishops, and the group today still has no legal status in the Catholic Church.
But in the decades since that original break with Rome, the group has continued to grow, with schools, seminaries and parishes around the world and branches of priests, nuns and lay Catholics who are attached to the pre-Vatican II traditional Latin Mass.
Growth of a parallel church
According to SSPX statistics, it counts two bishops, 733 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, a Catholic reality that poses a real threat to Rome because of the specter of the growth of a parallel church.
For the Vatican, papal consent for the consecration of bishops is a fundamental doctrine, guaranteeing the lineage of apostolic succession from the time of Christ’s original apostles. As a result, the consecration of bishops without papal consent is considered a grave threat to church unity and a cause of schism, since bishops can ordain new priests. Under church law, a consecration without papal consent incurs an automatic excommunication for the person who celebrates it and the purported new bishop.
Pagliarani has said in comments on the SSPX website, and in the SSPX statement, that the consecrations of new bishops are necessary for the society’s survival, because the remaining two are getting old and are increasingly unable to tend to the needs of SSPX members around the world.
Offer of dialogue, with a catch
During the talks Thursday at the Vatican, Fernandez offered to open a theological dialogue with the SSPX to address concerns that they have outlined to the Vatican starting in 2017, especially concerning Catholic relations with other religions.
The aim, according to the Vatican statement, would be to identify the minimum points of agreement necessary to bring the SSPX back into communion with the Holy See and outline a legal status so it could exist within the church.
But it warned that such a dialogue would require the suspension of the planned bishop consecrations. Going ahead with them, the Vatican warned, “would imply a decisive break in the ecclesial communion (schism) with grave consequences for the Fraternity.”
Pagliarani justified the ordination of new bishops as both “realistic and reasonable,” given the number of people who attend SSPX Masses.
Long history of dialogue
The Vatican has tried for years to reconcile with the SSPX. Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 lifted the excommunications of the surviving bishops and relaxed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass.
While offering some gestures to the SSPX, Francis reversed Benedict’s reform that allowed greater celebration of the old Latin Mass, arguing it had become a source of division in the church.
Catholic traditionalists say Francis’ crackdown had the result of pushing more faithful who were in communion with Rome into the arms of the breakaway SSPX, since they couldn’t find Latin Masses that were permitted by Rome.
Leo has acknowledged the tensions and sought to pacify the debate, expressing an openness to dialogue and allowing exceptions to Francis’ crackdown.
The Vatican, for example, said that Leo had explicitly approved Thursday’s encounter, which it described as “cordial and sincere.”
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