31 Killed In Suicide Attack On Shi'ite Mosque In Pakistani Capital

"Officials said the February 6 bombing also wounded some 170 worshippers in Tarlai, a suburb of Islamabad. Video footage from the immediate aftermath of the attack showed bodies lying on the mosque floor amid debris. Scores of wounded were lying on the lawns of the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah mosque. "A total of 31 people have lost their lives. The number of wounded brought to hospitals has risen to 169," Irfan Memon, the deputy commissioner, a senior civilian administrator, said in a statement."

"Aun Shah, an eyewitness, said two attackers first shot dead the security guards of the mosque. "As soon as [the attackers] reached the gate, one of them detonated his [explosive-laden] belt," he told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. Some of the worshippers later protested outside the mosque. They questioned their government's inability to prevent rising terrorist attacks. "Your security should have been present before the Friday Prayers," said one worshipper. "But there was no security here during the prayers.""

A suicide bombing struck the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah mosque in Tarlai, Islamabad, during Friday prayers, causing at least 31 deaths and roughly 169–170 wounded. Video showed bodies on the mosque floor and injured worshippers on the lawns. An eyewitness said two attackers shot mosque security guards before one detonated an explosive belt. Some worshippers protested afterward, criticizing the absence of security during prayers. Attacks are uncommon in heavily guarded Islamabad, but Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces face intensifying Islamist and ethnic insurgencies. No group claimed responsibility; ACLED said the attack bears the hallmarks of the Islamic State and called it Islamabad's deadliest.

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