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Agence France-Presse

Thousands of mourners gathered in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, on Saturday to start burying the 32 people killed in a suicide bombing ‍at a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, as the city tightened security and authorities arrested four people believed to have helped the bomber.
The Islamic State group (Isis) has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott hotel bombing.
Minister of Interior Moshin Naqvi told a press conference on Saturday that four people, including the alleged mastermind of the attack, had been arrested following an operation in Peshawar and Nowshera.
During the operation one counterterrorism officer was killed and three more were wounded, he said.
City officials said 32 people died and another 169 were wounded in the explosion at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque on the city’s outskirts.
The blast occurred during Friday prayers, when mosques are packed with worshippers.

“The attacker was stopped at the gate and detonated himself,” a security source said.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, said an “extremely powerful” explosion ripped through the building as prayers were just starting.
“During the first bow of the namaz [prayer ritual], we heard gunfire,” he said. “And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred.”
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” he said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered. When I got outside, many bodies were scattered … Many people lost their lives.”
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, said there was a gunfight between the bomber and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” he said. He then “detonated the explosives”.
At a major hospital on Friday afternoon, several people, including children, were seen being carried in on stretchers or by their arms and legs.
Medics and bystanders helped unload victims with blood-soaked clothes from the back of ambulances and vehicles as friends and relatives of the wounded wept and screamed.
Heavily armed security forces guarded the mosque, where pools of blood were visible on the ground.
Videos shared on social media showed several bodies lying near the mosque’s front gate, with people and debris also strewn across the red-carpeted prayer hall.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that those behind the blast would be found and brought to justice.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar branded the attack “a heinous crime against humanity and a blatant violation of Islamic principles”.
The attack comes as Pakistan’s security forces battle intensifying insurgencies in southern and northern provinces that border Afghanistan.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority nation, but Shiites make up between 10 and 15 per cent of the population and have been targeted in attacks throughout the region in the past.
The last major attack in Islamabad took place in November when a suicide blast outside a court killed 12 people and wounded dozens, the first such incident to hit the capital in nearly three years.
In Balochistan, attacks claimed by separatist insurgents last week killed 36 civilians and 22 security personnel, prompting a wave of counter-operations in which authorities said security forces killed almost 200 militants.
Friday’s attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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The attack was the deadliest in Islamabad since September 2008, when 60 were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast at the Marriott hotel


The attack was the deadliest in Islamabad since September 2008, when 60 were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast at the Marriott hotel.


Terrorism

Islamic militancy

Islamic State

Religion

32 killed in Pakistan mosque suicide blast: ‘extremely powerful explosion’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The attack was the deadliest in Islamabad since September 2008, when 60 were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast at the Marriott hotel

The attack was the deadliest in Islamabad since September 2008, when 60 were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast at the Marriott hotel