Pakistan reels after bombing kills almost 100, fears more terrorism to come
The shockingly successful attack on what should have been one of the more secure parts of Peshawar has raised serious questions about Pakistan’s ability to confront its long-standing militant threat as it remains mired in an economic crisis and a political standoff.
“This needs to be thoroughly investigated as to how the bomber succeeded in reaching the target by crossing all the checkpoints,” said Syed Masood Shah, a senior police official and minister in the current caretaker government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “This is not possible without some ‘support.’ The bomber seems to be well aware of the area, and he might have visited the spot before he executed his plan.”
The bombing was claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban militia, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which said the attack was to avenge the death of its former leader. However, a TTP spokesman later denied the claim, saying that such an attack — on a place of worship packed with men at prayer — was un-Islamic. The contradiction suggested splits within the group since the death of its leader, Police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari said.
A police officer, who gave only the name Tajir, was guarding the Capital City Police Office compound where the blast took place and said entry was still barred Tuesday, but he worried about how the bomber had entered the area.
“We lost many of our colleagues, but we will continue to fight back,” he said. “It is very difficult to search every person here as usually there is hustle and bustle on the working days. Government officials and visitors are passing through this gate.”
As families began burying their dead in cemeteries across this ancient city and Pakistani officials scrambled to fashion a coherent response, leaders and commentators of all stripes, from religious party chiefs to secular liberals, joined in universal condemnation of an attack that harked back to a frightening era of constant terrorist threats.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who visited blast victims with severe burns and fractures at a Peshawar hospital alongside Pakistan’s army chief Monday, later addressed the attackers in an emotional tweet, warning that “you cannot underestimate the resolve of our people” and declaring terrorism to be the country’s “foremost national security challenge.”
Some 300 police officers were believed to have been in the mosque when the bomb went off. From the hospital, Muhammad Kamran, who had begun his training as a police officer just a month before, said he was in the third row during afternoon prayers.
“I survived as a portion of the rooftop fell on me, but I was near a wall,” he recalled, still traumatized. “As I was struggling to find a way out of the rubble, I saw two heads nearby and one man stuck under the debris and crying for help.”
“I can’t sleep as I still hear the bomb bang,” the 26-year-old said.
Some political leaders sought to blame their rivals for failed anti-terrorist policies or for being distracted by a power struggle. The political conflict has paralyzed the government as national elections loom and officials struggle to contain an unprecedented economic crisis that has brought Pakistan to the brink of default on its foreign debt.
“The nation has been witnessing paralysis over the past several months,” with top leaders engaged in a “destructive battle of nerves” over the elections and policymaking nearly frozen “as the economy nosedives,” the editors of the Dawn newspaper wrote Tuesday. “This perfect storm represents an ideal opportunity for the TTP and others of their ilk to strike at the state.”
Pakistan is dealing with floods that ruined vast parts of the vital agricultural heartland, a financial crisis featuring soaring inflation, heavy foreign debts that the country cannot pay, and an angry opposition calling for demonstrations.
It is against this backdrop that the long-running war with the TTP has flared anew. The radical Islamist movement with links to the Taliban now ruling Afghanistan had been beaten back in a military crackdown after more than a decade of struggle, but it has slowly been regaining strength.
After Afghanistan’s Taliban came to power in August 2021, it helped broker peace talks between the Pakistani government and the TTP, resulting in a year-long cease-fire that broke down in November.
Many analysts, however, fear that the year of calm was used by the TTP to reorganize and rearm in this rugged northwest region, allowing it to unleash a new campaign of attacks.
Shah, the chief security official of the province, said the bombing has “created an environment of fear” across the country.
“We are in a state of war, and we must be vigilant,” he said, calling on all security agencies to share intelligence and “jointly fight” the threat of further militant attacks.
Constable reported from Kabul. Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Paul Schemm in London contributed to this report.