At least 69 people were killed, and 169 were injured after a blast ripped through a Shia mosque in Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad, on Friday, officials said. The explosion occurred at the Khadijatul Kubra mosque in southeastern Islamabad during Friday prayers, causing chaos among worshippers.
The injured have been shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for treatment. A rescue operation is currently underway, and security forces have cordoned off the area.
The blast took place at a time when Pakistani armed forces are engaged in intense counter-terror operations against Baloch militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and North Waziristan following coordinated terror attacks on security facilities and civilians from other parts of Pakistan.
On Friday, Pakistani forces killed 24 more militants in two separate intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai and Khyber districts.
The counter-terror operation began in January in Panjgur and the outskirts of the Harnai district after what the ISPR described as credible intelligence about the presence of militants in the area.
Overall, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) claimed that 216 militants were killed during Operation Radd-ul-Fitna-1, dealing a significant blow to their leadership, command structures, and operational capacity.
The military said at least 36 civilians, including women and children, have also lost their lives during the course of violence, while 22 security and law enforcement officials were killed in the line of duty.
In November last year, a suicide bomber detonated himself at the entrance of the Islamabad District Judicial Complex, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens.
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