Mosque Attacked by Pakistani Taliban

Written by Allan Millward

February 5, 2023

Tragedy has struck Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan after a suicide bomber blew up a mosque killing more than 80 people and injuring around 217. The mosque was situated inside a police compound and attended mostly by law enforcement officials. Conflicting messages from the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) have been put out, both claiming and denying responsibility. The TTP has launched attacks on Peshawar before as the city is near the Afghan-Pakistan border. They are close allies of the Afghanistan Taliban and are sheltered in Afghanistan by the current government. When the Afghan Taliban came to power, they released TTP fighters and leadership members arrested by the previous government. The Taliban had arranged talks between the TTP and Pakistan to uphold a cease-fire but after dragging on for months the talks finally collapsed in November of last year and violence resumed. The Taliban have claimed they will not allow the TTP to attack another country through Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s Interior Minister demanded they hold true to their word.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Peshawar and stopped by Lady Reading Hospital to meet those injured by the attack. In a tweet after his visit, he said “just returned from Peshawar. The sheer scale of human tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed by a deep sense of grief. I have no doubt terrorism is our foremost national security challenge.” He also put out a statement that called into question the attacker’s faith. “The brutal killing of Muslims prostrating before Allah is against the teachings of the Quran. Targeting the House of Allah is proof that the attackers have nothing to do with Islam.” It is likely that violence will increase in the region.