An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at a Shia mosque on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital overnight that left 31 people dead and 169 injured. On Saturday, mourners gathered for the funeral of the victims in the same mosque under strict security measures, according to the AP report.
Authorities said police identified the bomber, his facilitators and arrested the mastermind of the attack.
The Islamic State’s regional branch, called Islamic State in Pakistan, claimed responsibility in a statement on its Amaq news agency. It noted that the attacker fired at security guards who tried to stop him at the main entrance and detonated his explosive vest after reaching the mosque’s inner gate, the report said.
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The Islamic State group has said it views Pakistani Shiites as legitimate targets, describing them as a “human reservoir” that supplies recruits to Shiite militias fighting the Islamic State group in Syria.
Friday’s attack on the mosque was the deadliest in Islamabad since the 2008 suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel, which left 63 dead and over 250 injured. Additionally, in November, a suicide bomber attacked a courthouse in the capital, killing 12 people, the report said.
The recent attack comes as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government is dealing with a surge in militant attacks across Pakistan. Pakistani officials say the attacker was a Pakistani national who had recently visited Afghanistan.
Pakistan arrests suspects
Authorities said several suspects, including the bomber’s brother, mother and other relatives, were arrested during overnight raids in Islamabad and northwestern Pakistan. A policeman was also killed in the attack.
On Saturday, Pakistani state television reported a breakthrough in the investigation with the arrest of an alleged IS-linked Afghan accused of orchestrating the attack. The report said the bombing was planned by IS in Afghanistan, posing a threat to regional and global security. There was no immediate response from Kabul to these recent claims.
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More than 2,000 grieving mourners gathered as coffins carrying the deceased were brought to the mosque for the funerals of about a dozen victims, attended by Shia community leaders and senior government officials. The rest of the victims were to be buried in their hometowns.
IS is a Sunni group that has previously targeted Pakistan’s Shiite minority, apparently with the aim of deepening sectarian divisions in the predominantly Sunni country. In 2022, she claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing targeting a Shia Muslim mosque in Peshawar, a city in northwest Pakistan, which left at least 56 dead and 194 injured.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said on Friday that the attack showed that Pakistan-based militants fighting from Afghanistan still posed a threat capable of hitting the capital.
His comments drew a strong response from Afghanistan’s Taliban government.
Afghanistan’s defense ministry issued a statement condemning the attack on a mosque in Islamabad, criticizing Pakistan’s defense minister for “irresponsibly” blaming Afghanistan. Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan, where the Taliban regained control in August 2021, of harboring militants, including members of the Pakistani Taliban. However, Kabul denies these allegations.
The attack has faced international condemnation
The attack was condemned by the wider international community, including the United States, Russia and the European Union.
Prime Minister Sharif expressed his gratitude for the outpouring of sympathy and support he received “from all over the world” after describing the incident as a “heartbreaking suicide attack in Islamabad”. He emphasized that international support remains essential to Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts and pledged to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
Although Pakistan’s capital has seen relatively few attacks compared to other regions, the country has recently seen an increase in militant violence. Much of this has been attributed to Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which is a separate group but affiliated with the Afghan Taliban.
