Four suspects were arrested after the Pakistan mosque bombings left 31 dead

Pakistani soldiers raided several areas and arrested four suspects, including the mastermind, after a suicide bombing in a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of the capital, 31 people died, the interior minister said on Saturday.

Mohsin Naqvi’s announcement came a day after an affiliate of the IS group, which calls itself the Islamic State in Pakistan, revealed its involvement in a statement issued by its Amaq News Agency. The statement said the attacker on Friday opened fire on the security guards who were trying to stop him at the main gate before detonating his explosive vest after reaching the inner gate of the mosque.

One hundred and sixty-nine people were injured when the bomb exploded. Photos from the scene showed children among the injured. A local security official said the mosque was packed with people attending Friday prayers. Zahir Hussain told CBS News that he was parking to enter a mosque when a loud explosion threw him against the door of his car.

“After that, there was a terrible silence, and then I saw you in the mosque, I have no words to describe it,” said Hussain.

It was the worst such incident in Islamabad since 2008, when a suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel killed 63 people and injured more than 250. In November, a bomb was detonated outside a courthouse in the capital, killing 12 people.

Pakistan has arrested suspects linked to the attack

Naqvi described the alleged mastermind of the bombing as an Afghan with links to IS. He alleges that the attack was planned and the bomber was trained in Afghanistan with funding from India – claims for which he did not immediately provide evidence. There was no immediate comment from New Delhi and Kabul.

Naqvi also alleged that many terrorist groups are operating in the Afghan territory to attack Pakistan and urged the international community to be careful, warning that instability could spread across the region.

Addressing the public’s concern about the lack of security, he said, “If one explosion occurs, 99 others are prevented.”

The militant group has suggested it views Pakistani Shiites as legitimate targets, calling them a “shelter” that supplies fighters to Shiite militias fighting the Islamic State in Syria.

Funerals for the dead

Earlier, more than 2,000 mourners gathered as the coffins of those who died were brought to a mosque to bury about a dozen victims, joined by Shiite community leaders and senior government officials. Funerals for other victims were to be held in their hometowns.

IS is a Sunni group that has targeted a small Shiite group in Pakistan in the past, apparently seeking to fuel sectarian divisions in the majority Sunni country. In 2022, it claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that attacked a Shiite Muslim mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 56 and injuring 194.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told reporters on Friday that the attack indicated that Pakistan-based forces operating in Afghanistan could even attack the capital. His remarks drew a sharp response from Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

In a statement, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense condemned the attack by Islamists in Islamabad but said Pakistan’s defense minister was “improperly linked to Afghanistan”. Pakistan often blames Afghanistan, where the The Taliban is back in power in August 2021, for harboring militants, including members of the Pakistani Taliban. Kabul denies the charges.

The attack draws worldwide condemnation

The attack was condemned by the international community, including the United States, Russia and the European Union.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was grateful for the messages of sympathy and support received “from around the world” following what he called the “heartbreaking suicide attack in Islamabad.” He said international support remained vital to Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts and vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

Although Pakistan’s capital has seen fewer attacks compared to other regions, the country has faced a recent surge in violence. Much of it is blamed on Balochseparatists and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is a separate but allied group to the Taliban in Afghanistan.