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Central & South Asia
Two blasts hits Pakistan mosques
Locals blame Tehrik-e-Taliban for teenage suicide bomber who killed at least 60 people in one attack.
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2010 15:34 GMT
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The attack in Darra Adam Khel was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban [EPA] At least 60 people have been killed and dozens of others injured after a 17-year-old suicide bomber struck a Sunni Muslim mosque in northwest Pakistan during Friday prayers.The blast collapsed part of the mosque's roof on top of worshippers, and there are fears the death toll from the explosion could rise. A local official said 11 children were among the dead, Dawn newspaperreported.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistan Taliban Movement, claimed responsibility for the attack, which was not the first against the mosque, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reported. The suicide bomber's explosive weighed between 10 to 15 kilograms, Hyder said.
"There are blood and body parts everywhere. Elderly people and children are among the dead and wounded. I have not seen such a tragic scene in my whole life,'' said villager Zafar Khan, according to the Associated Press news agency.
A second blast struck another mosque later on Friday in the town of Badabher, near Peshawar, killing at least three people and wounding at least 20 others. The imam of the mosque was killed, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The first attack occurred in Darra Adam Khel, a town renowned for its arm bazaar and located around 40km south of Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, previously called the North-West Frontier Province.
In Depth
"There is a steady pattern emerging, and mosques are not spared," Hyder said, adding that the attacks on religious sites are causing widespread anger in Pakistan. "[The Taliban] have been dislodged from many areas ... [they] are not able to regroup and challenge the writ of the government ... it's more guerilla tactics; they're choosing targets of opportunity, soft targets at that."
Darra Adam Khel lies on a highway that serves as a main conduit between Peshawar and scenes of heavier fighting to the south in North and South Waziristan, provinces that lie in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Around 3,800 people have been killed in suicide attacks and bombings since government troops raided the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007, according to Dawn.
Local member of anti-Taliban militia, or lashkars, reportedly attended the mosque in Darra Adam Khel - a possible motive for the attack.
The absence of a hospital in or near the town meant that residents had to transport bombing victims up the highway to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.
Haji Razaq Khan, a member of Pakistan's senate from Darra Adam Khel, said that Malik Wali Khan, a local tribal elder who had been encouraging people to stand against the Taliban, used a guest room next to the mosque and may have been the target, the Associated Press reported.
It was not immediately clear whether Malik Wali Khan had been hurt.
Khalid Umarzai, a regional administration chief, suggested the attack could have been in retaliation for military operations in the area targeting fighters.
In October, a bomb attack at a Sunni mosque on the outskirts of Peshawar killed three people and wounded 22. It also occurred during Friday prayers.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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