The death toll from the suicide attack on a mosque in Peshawar's Police Lines area on Monday rose to 100 on Tuesday after more bodies were recovered from the attack site.
Peshawar Hospital spokesperson Mohammad Asim said that 100 dead bodies had been brought to the medical facility
On Monday, 59 people, mostly police officials, were killed and over 150 were injured after an explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar's Red Zone area. The powerful blast blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof.
The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the blast.
Speaking to the media, Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Muhammad Ijaz Khan said Monday that the roof of the mosque collapsed after the blast. "A number of people are still stuck under the rubble and rescuers are trying to pull them out."
He said the main hall of the mosque--which had a capacity of 250 to 300 people--had collapsed but the rest of the building was still intact.
Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country has worsened, with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country.
According to Dawn newspaper, since the talks with the TTP broke down in November, the militant group has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and areas bordering Afghanistan. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped up their violent activities and formalized a nexus with the outlawed TTP.
On January 22, a police vehicle narrowly escaped a bomb blast in Peshawar's Badaber area. A day earlier, a policeman was killed and two others were injured when unidentified assailants attacked a police post in Dheri Zardad locality of Charsadda.
On January 14, a deputy superintendent and two constables were killed when militants, armed with automatic assault weapons, targeted the Sarband police station on the outskirts of the province's capital, Peshawar, late at night.
TTP ends ceasefire
On November 28, 2022, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called off the ceasefire agreed with the government in June and ordered its militants to stage attacks across the country.
In a statement the group said: "As military operations are ongoing against mujahideen in different areas [...] so it is imperative for you to carry out attacks wherever you can in the entire country."
The decision, it stated, was taken after "a series of non-stop attacks were launched by the military organizations in Bannu's Lakki Marwat district".
The banned group said it had repeatedly warned the people of Pakistan and "continued to be patient so that the negotiation process is not sabotaged at least by us."
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