PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A powerful bomb exploded Friday at a mosque near a building housing police offices in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 30, police and rescue officials said. Bilal Faizi, a senior rescue official, said the bombing occurred in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Most of those wounded were worshippers, he said. Doctors and officials at the hospital said some of the wounded were in critical condition, raising fears the death toll could rise. Zulfiqar Hameed, the provincial police chief, said an attacker apparently rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the mosque, but officers were still investigating. At least two armed gunmen also attempted to enter the police compound and exchanged fire with officers, local police said. The victims were taken to a nearby hospital where authorities declared an emergency to handle the influx of casualties. Local police said the explosion was powerful enough to badly damage nearby shops and homes. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed sorrow over the casualties in a statement issued by his office. He directed authorities to accelerate rescue operations, provide medical care to the wounded and extend assistance to those affected. Footage posted on social media showed the mosque’s roof had collapsed. Rescuers and residents could be seen pulling injured people from the rubble and carrying them to ambulances. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The attack comes a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district and killed six soldiers. Government troops also conducted raids in various areas Thursday and killed 10 militants believed to be members of the Pakistani Taliban, the military and local police said Friday. Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on police and civilians in recent years. In 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people in an attack inside a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The group is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021. Pakistan often accuses Kabul of sheltering the TTP and turning a blind eye to cross-border militant attacks. The government in Kabul has denied the allegations. ___ Riaz Khan And Munir Ahmed, The Associated Press Ahmed reported from Islamabad.
