Three suicide bombers fired on worshipers then blew themselves up at a mosque near Pakistan’s military headquarters after prayers yesterday, killing 40 people, including many army officials, police said.
The mosque is frequented by military officials in the town of Rawalpindi, home to Pakistan’s military establishment and only a 30-minute drive from the capital Islamabad.
The brazen attack in what should be one of the most secure areas of Pakistan was the latest challenge by militants against the writ of the state. A local television station said people were executed in cold blood.
TALIBAN
Pakistan is fighting Taliban fighters blamed for bombings that have killed hundreds of people since an offensive was launched on their stronghold in South Waziristan in October.
The nuclear-armed country faces mounting US pressure to root out Islamist militants operating along forbidding border areas to help in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“They were three. They first opened fire and then blew themselves up,” Rawalpindi police chief Rao Iqbal said.
Witnesses said earlier that attackers hurled grenades then opened fire on the mosque. A policeman said the militants arrived in a gray Toyota car.
The cleric had just finished his sermon with the phrase “Allahu akbar” (God is great) when an explosion shook worshippers in the Parade Lane mosque.
“As soon as we finished prayers. I heard a blast and firing. I saw some wounded laying in the courtyard of the mosque,” Bakhtawar Hussain said.
PRESSURE
The violence will pressure Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to do more to neutralize the threat from the stubborn Taliban insurgency. But he is an increasingly unpopular figure who has been at odds with the all-powerful military, which sets national security policy.
It was the second brazen assault on the area since October, when suspected Taliban gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked the army compound, killing three hostages and two army commandos.
“Initial information indicates that they were two to three attackers who entered the mosque by scaling a wall,” senior police official Aslam Tarin said of yesterday’s attack.
He said 40 people were killed and 26 wounded.
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