82 dead after suicide bomber sent by terrorist “beasts” turned Sunni mosque in Pakistan into a “graveyard” during Friday prayers

The death toll has now reached 82,⁴ including 11 children,¹ with 80 others wounded⁵ after a suicide bomber attacked a Sunni² mosque in Pakistan during Friday prayers attended by around 300.⁵ The bomber blew himself up in the Waali Mosque's main hall after guards at the gate tried but failed to stop him.⁵ Mohammad Usman, 32, a schoolteacher who was wounded in the attack said the place looked “just like a graveyard” afterwards.²

The mosque in Akhurwall village, Darra Adam Khel area, near Peshwar, was owned³ and frequented² by tribal elders running a government sponsored anti-Taliban militia, although none of them were there on this day.²

Khalid Umarzai, a regional administrator, said the army was conducting operations against militants in the area and that such a revenge attack had been expected.¹

 Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, whose only son was killed by militants earlier this year, said the attack was part of international terrorism and that militant "beasts" were lashing out against a crackdown on them.² He urged America, Pakistan and Afghanistan to cooperate and work “more aggressively to root out this menace”.²

Sources: 1. AFP, 2. AP, 3. Daily Mail, 4. Indo-Asian News Service, 5. Reuters