Suicide blast at a mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar kills 89: report

Peshawar: More than 80 people were killed and 150 wounded after a blast in a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Monday.

The attack occurred during afternoon prayers in the mosque in Peshawar, AFP reported.

The place sits close to the areas along the Afghan border where militancy has been steadily rising.

Rescuers fished out nine bodies overnight from the rubble after walls and roof collapsed in the impact of the blast.

A 23-year-old police constable is reportedly said to be trapped under the rubble with a dead body on top for seven hours.

A spokesman for the main hospital in Peshawar said the toll had risen to 89 with more than 150 were wounded.

City police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan said that most of the victims were policemen as the attack took place when between 300 and 400 of whom gathered at the mosque for prayers.

Bilal Ahmad Faizi, a spokesperson for a rescue organization, reportedly said: "This morning we are going to remove the last part of the collapsed roof so we can recover more bodies, but we are not hopeful of reaching any survivors”.

Since the return of Taliban in Afghanistan, security situation in Pakistan has deteriorated, according to AFP.

Emboldened militants can now travel back and forth across the mountain borders while Pakistan accuse Afghanistan’s rulers of failing to secure the borders.

Police officers have become target of most attacks carried out by the Pakistani Taliban alongside the attacks by the local chapter of Islamic State.