PESHAWAR, June 21: Fifteen people were killed and 27 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up after a gun attack inside a mosque-cum-madressah here on Friday.

Known as Ariful Hussainia Madressah, the mosque is located in Faisal Colony — a largely Shia neighbourhood in a suburb of the city.

Superintendent of Police Shafiullah Khan told media personnel outside the mosque that there were three attackers.

One of them opened fire on policemen guarding the mosque while one managed to enter the mosque and blew himself up in the main hall, where the sermon for Friday prayers was in progress.

One policeman, Alamdar, was killed by the firing.

An official of bomb disposal squad said eight kilograms of explosives with ball-bearings were used for the blast.

He said police had found body parts of the bomber inside the mosque.

Syed M. Mehdi, a grandson of Allama Arif Hussain Al Hussaini — the chief of the defunct Tehreek Nifaz-i-Fiqah-i-Jafria — was among the dead. Allama Hussaini was gunned down in the same madressah on Aug 5, 1988.

Soon after the attack security personnel rushed to the site and cordoned off the area.

Rescue teams, with the help of people of the area, took the injured to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).

According to a LRH official, 37 people were brought to the hospital. Thirteen of them were declared dead by doctors on arrival and two died in the hospital, he added.

The blast badly damaged the mosque and adjacent houses.

A senior official said that police had information about the entry of a suicide bomber in the city, but they did know about his target.

“We also had information that 25 militants from Khyber Agency riding two vehicles entered the city to carry out subversive activities,” the official added.

“I was about to enter the mosque’s hall when I heard a huge blast after some gunshots,” said Abid Hussain Shakiri, the prayer leader.

“I was fixing the loud-speaker for the prayer leader when a bullet hit my leg. I fell down,” Tajdar, the caretaker, told Dawn at the LRH.

A huge blast followed the gunshots and there were pieces of human flesh and blood everywhere. “The injured, particularly children, were crying for help,” he added.

KP MINISTER: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister for Information and Health Shaukat Ali Yousufzai told media personnel at the LRH that the war on terror had been imposed on Pakistan.

He called upon the federal government to disown this war to save the country.