ISLAMABAD: The Daesh (Islamic State) group has claimed responsibility for a suicide blast at a Shiite mosque in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad that killed 31 people on Friday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors such communications.
The suicide blast targeted Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque in the Tarlai Kallan area at the time of Friday prayers, when mosques are packed with worshippers.
Islamabad’s district administration said 169 others were injured, several of them critically, in the incident and were being treated at different hospitals in the city.
Daesh said one of its militants had targeted the congregation, detonating an explosive vest and “inflicting a large number of deaths and injuries,” according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
“We have now received information about the terrorist who carried out the suicide bombing here,” Tallal Chaudhry, Pakistan’s minister of state for interior, told reporters in Islamabad, adding the attack was carried out by militants sponsored by India and supported by Afghanistan.
“He is not an Afghan national, but details of how many times he traveled to Afghanistan have been obtained.”
Islamabad has long accused Kabul of allowing its soil to be used by militant groups and New Delhi of backing their cross-border attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces. The Afghan and Indian governments have consistently denied the allegations.
India also issued a statement during the day, condemning the attack and condoling the loss of life while calling Islamabad’s accusation against it “as baseless as it is pointless.”
Friday’s attack came amid a renewed surge in militant violence in Pakistan and followed a suicide bombing outside a district court complex in Islamabad in November last year that killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, underscoring growing security concerns even in heavily guarded urban centers.
“Be assured that the previous terrorists and their handlers involved in Islamabad attacks were arrested and are being dealt with according to the law,” Chaudhry told reporters, reassuring that those responsible for the mosque blast would also be arrested.
