PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A blast near the largest mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar killed up to 10 people, most of them police officers, police and witnesses said.
It was unknown who was behind the explosion, but Pakistan has been braced for a fresh outburst of sectarian violence during the Islamic month of Moharram, when the country’s Shi’ite minority mourns the death of one their sect’s heroes.
While the blast occurred just metres away from Qasim Ali Khan mosque, the largest Sunni mosque in the city, it was also close to a Shi’ite community centre, which had just been visited by the police caught in the explosion.
“When they went out there was an explosion. It terrified us, the noise was deafening,” Sayed Qainul Hassan, the man in charge of the community centre, told Reuters.
Police officer Chaudhry Ashraf said most of the dead were policemen, and half a dozen police were wounded.
A Reuters journalist saw the corpses of three civilians being carried through a hospital by men chanting anti-government slogans.
A power cut in the city made it difficult to gather all the details, officials said.
Re: Blast kills up to 10 people in Pakistan's Peshawar
PESHAWAR: A blast occured Saturday evening in Qissa Khawni Bazar near Qasim Ali Khan Mosque here killing at least six people and injuring many others.
There are reports of various wounded persons. More than ten ambulances have been sent to the scene of incident.
Some police officials also have been reported to be injured as a result of the blast. According to some reports, CCPO Malik Mohammed Saad and DSP Raziq Khan died on the spot.
A union council nazim Mohammed Ali Safi and Naib Nazim Mian Iftikhar are also included among the casualties.
The injured are being rushed to Lady Reading Hospital, where an emergency has been announced.
Soon after the blast, the power is cut off with a subsequent darkness there, which is hindering the relief activities there.