Pakistan’s anti-terrorist forces have carried out several raids and arrested four people, including an alleged coordinator, linked to a suicide attack at a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of the capital that left 31 dead, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Saturday.
Naqvi’s statement followed a day after the regional branch Islamic Statecalling itself the Islamic State in Pakistan, confirmed its involvement through a bulletin on its Amaq Press Agency. The report said that on Friday, the attacker launched an armed attack on security personnel at the main entrance before deploying a suicide vest when he reached the inner portal of the shrine.
IS has said it considers Pakistani Shiites as valid targets, describing the community as a “reservoir of people” that supplies fighters with Shiite paramilitary groups opposing IS forces in Syria.
Friday’s blast, which also left 169 injured, is the country’s deadliest incident Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott suicide bombing that left 63 dead and more than 250 injured. Earlier in November, a suicide bomber attacked near the main court building, killing 12 people.
Addressing public fears of security failures, Naqvi said: “If one blast goes off, 99 others will be foiled.”
Earlier, more than 2,000 devastated mourners gathered as coffins carrying the deceased were carried to the same mosque for memorial services for the roughly twelve victims attended by Shia dignitaries and senior government officials. Funeral rites for other victims were to be held in their ancestral cities.
IS is a Sunni extremist faction that has historically targeted Pakistan’s Shia minority, ostensibly to ignite sectarian conflict within the predominantly Sunni nation. In 2022, the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite temple of worship in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 56 people and injuring 194 others.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told reporters on Friday that the tragedy indicated that local militants operating from Afghan territory were capable of striking at the heart of the capital. These comments drew a strong rejection from the Afghan Taliban administration.
In a formal response, the Afghan Ministry of Defense condemned the bombing of a mosque in Islamabad, but claimed that Pakistan’s defense minister had “irresponsibly” linked the incident to Afghanistan. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan, where the Taliban regained control in August 2021, of harboring insurgents, including the Pakistani Taliban.
Kabul continues to deny these claims.
The global community condemns the strike
The atrocity drew widespread condemnation from the international community, including formal statements by the United States, Russia and the European Union.