Suicide bomber kills 25 at mosque in Pakistan

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 16, (AFP): A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people and wounded 35 others as they attended Friday prayers at a mosque in a northwestern Pakistani tribal area, officials said.

The bombing took place in the village of Butmaina in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting against Taleban militants.

“The Friday prayer was in progress at the mosque when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the main room killing at least 25 worshippers and wounding 35 others,” a senior tribal administration official told AFP.

“The area is remote and so far I have received only this information from our sources via wireless,” he said, adding a curfew had since been imposed.

Confirmed
Another local government official confirmed the information. The assault was later condemned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose office released a statement that said: “The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government’s resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taleban routinely attack soft targets such as courts, schools and mosques.

On Sept 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan in an assault targeting Pakistan’s legal community that was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Taleban faction.

The group has also said it was behind an attack on lawyers in southwest Quetta, which killed 73 people on Aug 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 in Pakistan’s deadliest attack this year. Pakistan’s deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taleban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children.

The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004. Security in the country has since improved. Scattered attacks still take place, but they are fewer and of a lesser intensity than in previous years. According to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 457 civilians and 182 security forces were killed in Pakistan from Jan 1 to Sept 11, putting 2016 on course for fewer casualties than 2015. Last year, the country recorded its lowest number of killings since 2007, when the Pakistani Taleban was formed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan, estimated to have the world’s fastest-growing nuclear stockpile, could be building a new uranium enrichment complex according to commercial satellite imagery analysed by Western defence experts. The construction of a new site, based in the town of Kahuta some thirty kilometres (miles) east of Islamabad, provides fresh evidence of how Pakistan is seeking to boost its atomic arsenal — a goal which is inconsistent with the principles of the Nuclear Suppliers Group the country is seeking to join, said the analysis. The analysis was conducted by IHS Jane’s Intelligence review using satellite images taken by Airbus Defence and Space on Sept 28, 2015 and then again on April 18, 2016.

Pakistan, which conducted its first nuclear tests in 1998 is believed to have around 120 nuclear weapons, more than India, Israel and North Korea. A 2015 report written by scholars at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Stimson Center said Pakistan could increase its stockpile by 20 warheads a year and have the world’s third largest in a decade. “The area of interest is approximately 1.2 hectares and is located within the secure area of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), in the southwestern part of the complex,” said the statement. Karl Dewey, a proliferation analyst at IHS Jane’s added: “It is sited within an established centrifuge facility, has strong security and shows some of the structural features of a possible new uranium enrichment facility. This makes it a strong candidate for a new centrifuge facility.”

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