Three die in Peshawar mosque blast

ISLAMABAD - At least three people were killed and more than 20 injured in a blast inside a mosque situated in northwestern Pakistan’s Peshawar district Friday.

The windowpanes of the mosque in Pishta Khara area were broken after the blast that occurred when people were coming out after offering Friday prayers. It was a locally manufactured bomb weighing 1.5 kg which was planted with a time device, said senior superintendent of police Ijaz Ahmad.

“We had stepped up security outside mosques in sensitive areas but this one was not in that list,” he said. Bomb disposal officials said “the blast was caused by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) that was concealed in utensils”.

Information minister Iftikhar Hussain “condemned the blast” and said “such incidents would keep occurring unless and until all terrorists are tracked down”.

“We are in a state of war against the militants and this is their reaction to our successes,” he added.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan has become the flashpoint of the war on terror since 2001 because of its close proximity to the Afghan border.

Hundreds of people, including high-profile targets like Iftikhar Hussain’s son and several police officers, have lost their lives in suicide and planted blasts carried out by the militant outfits. Taliban has claimed responsibility for most of the previous such attacks.