Authorities have recovered 45 bodies and more are buried under debris, he told reporters. Pakistan gave troops orders to “shoot to kill” terrorists, he said. The bomber blew himself up inside the roadside mosque at Jamrud town, 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Peshawar, at 1:45 p.m. today when as many as 300 people were saying Friday prayers, Khan said. The two-story mosque collapsed, he said. The attack is the latest in a series of terrorist incidents in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and in major cities. At least 4,000 people have died in terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the past two years, according to the government. Journalist James Rupert, head of Bloomberg's international bureau in Islamabad, Pakistan began his career abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching mechanics and welding in Morocco.
James Rupert writes: Pakistan Mosque Attack Kills 70 People in Tribal Area
Pakistan Mosque Attack Kills 70 People in Tribal Area (Update1)
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By Khalid Qayum and James Rupert
March 27 (Bloomberg) -- At least 70 people were killed and as many were injured by a suicide bomb at a mosque in a northern tribal area of Pakistan, Tariq Hayat Khan, the government’s political agent in the Khyber tribal area near Peshawar, said.
Authorities have recovered 45 bodies and more are buried under debris, he told reporters. Pakistan gave troops orders to “shoot to kill” terrorists, he said.
The bomber blew himself up inside the roadside mosque at Jamrud town, 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Peshawar, at 1:45 p.m. today when as many as 300 people were saying Friday prayers, Khan said. The two-story mosque collapsed, he said.
The attack is the latest in a series of terrorist incidents in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and in major cities. At least 4,000 people have died in terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the past two years, according to the government.
Pakistani troops have been fighting pro-Taliban militants in its tribal areas since 2003. The government blames attacks on these militants, who are angered by military operations.
Local television showed rescue workers and people removing debris with their bare hands. The injured were moved to hospitals in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, GEO television said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility or declaration of any motive for today’s attack.
Guerrilla groups under local tribal leaders in Jamrud have fought for dominance since 2005. The town is on the main road from Peshawar to the Khyber Pass, which is used by North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan as their main overland supply route.
The region has suffered dozens of attacks on mosques in recent decades, most of them related to conflicts between the Sunni majority and minority Shiite Muslims.
To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net; James Rupert in Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.
