At least 70 individuals had been killed and greater than 150 wounded in a bomb blast at a mosque in a security compound in northwestern Pakistan, officers stated. It was the nation’s worst such assault in virtually 11 months.

“We are still retrieving dead bodies from the debris,” stated Inquilab Khan, a shift supervisor at rescue company Edhi in Peshawar, who gave the newest casualty toll.

The explosion passed off Monday throughout afternoon prayers, inside an space the place Peshawar’s police headquarters and different authorities workplaces are positioned, Ghulam Ali, the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, advised reporters.

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Police are nonetheless trying by means of the ruins of the mosque, in line with Peshawar’s police chief, Mohammad Ijaz Khan. “Around 300-400 people from different offices gather for prayers” on the mosque, he stated. “Since it happened during prayer time, we can’t rule out a suicide attack.”

In March final yr, the Islamic State group claimed duty for an assault on a Shia mosque that killed greater than 60 worshipers.

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No group has claimed duty for the newest assault, however Pakistan has seen a spike in violence for the reason that Taliban seized energy in neighboring Afghanistan. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant group with hyperlinks to the Afghan group, final yr ended a cease-fire with the federal government in Islamabad and introduced a resumption of assaults throughout the nation.

According to the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, militant violence spiked by 22% in 2022 in contrast with 2021.