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14 NEWS WORLD maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 FEBRUARY 2023 A suicide bombing that killed dozens of police officers at a mosque in a government com- pound in north-west Pakistan reflects "security lapses", offi- cials have said. The blast, which ripped through a Sunni mosque inside a major police facility in the city of Peshawar, was one of the deadliest attacks on Paki- stani security forces in recent years. The death toll rose to 100 on Tuesday, with more than 225 other people injured, many of whom remain in a critical con- dition in hospital. More than 300 worshippers were praying in the mosque, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explo- sives vest on Monday morning, officials said. The explosion blew off part of the roof, and what was left soon caved in, injuring many more, according to police of- ficer Zafar Khan. Rescuers had to remove mounds of debris to reach worshippers still trapped un- der the rubble. More bodies were retrieved overnight and early on Tues- day, according to Mohammad Asim, a government hospital spokesman in Peshawar, and several of those who were crit- ically injured died. "Most of them were police- men," he said of the victims. Chief rescue official Bilal Faizi said rescue teams were still working at the site on Tuesday as more people were believed to be trapped inside. Mourners were burying the victim at different graveyards in the city and elsewhere. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sha- rif visited a hospital in Pesha- war after the bombing and vowed "stern action" against those behind the attack. "The sheer scale of the hu- man tragedy is unimaginable. This is no less than an attack on Pakistan," he tweeted. Authorities have not deter- mined who was behind the bombing. Shortly after the explosion, TTP commander Sarbakaf Mohmand claimed responsi- bility for the attack in a post on Twitter. But hours later, TTP spokes- man Mohammad Khurasani distanced the group from the bombing, saying it is not its policy to target mosques, sem- inaries and religious places, adding that those taking part in such acts could face puni- tive action under TTP's policy. His statement did not ad- dress why a TTP commander had claimed responsibility for the bombing. Pakistan, which is most- ly Sunni Muslim, has seen a surge in militant attacks since November, when the Paki- stani Taliban ended a ceasefire with government forces, as the country was contending with unprecedented floods that killed 1,739 people, destroyed more than two million homes, and at one point submerged as much as a third of the country. The Pakistani Taliban are the dominant militant group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov- ince, and Peshawar has been the scene of frequent attacks. But the Islamic State in Kho- rasan Province, a regional af- filiation of the Islamic State group and a rival of the Talib- an, has also been behind dead- ly attacks in Pakistan in recent years. Overall, violence has in- creased since the Afghan Tal- iban seized power in neigh- bouring Afghanistan in August 2021, as US and Nato troops pulled out of the country after 20 years of war. The TTP is separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban. It has waged an insur- gency in Pakistan in the past 15 years, seeking stricter en- forcement of Islamic laws, the release of its members in gov- ernment custody and a reduc- tion in the Pakistani military presence in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province it has long used as its base. Earlier this month, the Paki- stani Taliban claimed one of its members shot and killed two intelligence officers, in- cluding the director of the counter-terrorism wing of the country's military-based spy agency Inter-Services Intelli- gence. Security officials said on Monday that the gunman had been traced and killed in a shootout in the north-west, near the Afghan border. In 2014, a Pakistani Taliban faction attacked an army-run school in Peshawar and killed 154, mostly schoolchildren. The Taliban-run Afghan Foreign Ministry said it was "saddened to learn that nu- merous people lost their lives" in Peshawar and condemned attacks on worshippers as con- trary to the teachings of Islam. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a visit to the Middle East, tweeted his con- dolences, saying the bombing in Peshawar was a "horrific at- tack". "Terrorism for any reason at any place is indefensible," he said. Pakistan is also contending with political and economic crises in the wake of the floods and a disputed election. Condemnation also came from the Saudi Embassy in Is- lamabad, as well as the US Em- bassy, which said the "United States stands with Pakistan in condemning all forms of ter- rorism". UN Secretary-General Anto- nio Guterres called the bomb- ing "particularly abhorrent" for targeting a place of wor- ship, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan also ex- pressed his condolences, call- ing the bombing a "terrorist suicide attack". Pakistan blames 'security lapse' as mosque suicide blast death toll rises to 100 Pakistan mo2sque bombing