GHALANAI: At least 22 worshippers died and 27 others suffered injuries when a bomb exploded during Friday prayers inside a village mosque in the Mohmand tribal region, a local administration official said.

(According to Reuters, at least 25 people were killed and another 30 injured in the blast.)

The incident happened in Pai Khan, a remote village in the mountainous Ambar tehsil, 65km southeast of Ghalanai, Deputy Admin­istrator Naveed Akbar told Dawn.

Seven of the injured were said to be in a critical condition.

Jamaatul Ahrar, an offshoot of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the bombing and said the target were the members of pro-government tribal lashkars.

Jamaatul Ahrar, led by Abdul Wali alias Omar Khalid Khurasani, has also been behind the Aug 8 bombing in a Quetta hospital in which at least 74 people, mostly lawyers, lost their lives. The outfit, designated as a global terrorist, by the US State Department in August, is said to be based in Afghanistan.

Mr Akbar said the cause of the explosion was not clear. “We don’t know what caused the explosion,” he said. “Some people say it was a suicide bombing, others say the [explosive] device was planted in the mosque.”

Jamaatul Ahrar claims responsibility for the attack

According to a security official, most deaths occurred in the last row of the worshippers. “It was the last row where mostly children stand for the prayers,” he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

He said that most of the victims were children.

“It [the bomb attack] appears to be some sort of collective punishment for the locals,” the official said, citing recent mobilisation of locals against militants. “It is a matter of investigation but at the moment we believe that the mosque was attacked to punish the locals for mobilising against militants on behalf of the government,” he said.

“It’s a nondescript village mosque comprising a small hall and a verandah, like any other mosque in a village,” he said.

Bomb disposal experts were on the way to determine the cause of the explosion, Mr Akbar said, “but local residents say it was a suicide bombing”.

Poor rescue arrangements

Sawab Khan, a resident of Ambar, who was brought to the Agency Headquarters Hospital (AHH) at Ghalanai in the Mohmand tribal region with injuries, said that he was offering prayers along with at least 200 other worshippers when he heard a shout of ‘Allahu Akbar’ followed by an explosion.

“There was blood everywhere [and] the verandah was destroyed,” he recalled.

Sawab Khan said most of the injured were waiting for vehicles to be taken to hospitals because there were no arrangements of transportation in the area.

Medical Superintendent Dr Khan Saeed told Dawn that 27 injured, five of them children, were brought to the AHH at Khar in the Bajaur tribal region in a critical condition.

He said one of the children succumbed to wounds while seven people were airlifted to different hospitals in Peshawar because of their critical condition. He said the rest of the injured were under treatment at the Khar hospital, adding that most had suffered burn injuries.

He said emergency was declared at the hospital and a large number of people thronged the facility to donate blood.

Hakeemullah Khan, another injured, said the victims were shifted to AHH Bajaur in private vehicles.

AFP adds: Shireen Zada, a resident who had prayed at another mosque nearby, said he heard the blast as he was walking home.

“I rushed to the spot and when I went inside the hall there was blood and human remains everywhere and people crying out,” he said.

“I brought my pickup truck, loaded three wounded and drove them to the hospital in Khar,” he said.

Cowardly attack

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the bombing, saying the government would remain steadfast in its fight against extremists.

“The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government’s resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country,” read a statement from PM office.

On Sept 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in Mardan in an assault targeting the legal community that was also claimed by Jamaatul Ahrar. The group has also said it was behind the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 people.

Anwarullah Khan in Bajaur Agency contributed to the report.

Published in Dawn September 17th, 2016