Nearly 60 dead in Pakistan attack

Around 150 believers were injured in the attack in the city of Peshawar, hospital officials said. The attack happened in a high-security zone, which also includes many police buildings.

Initially, no group claimed responsibility for the attack. At the end of last year, however, the Pakistani Taliban – which are independent of the Islamist Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan – canceled a ceasefire with the government in Islamabad. Since then, they have claimed several attacks for themselves.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a first reaction strongly condemned the terrorist attack: “Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who have a duty to defend Pakistan,” he said. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah announced a detailed investigation into the terror.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his condolences to the bereaved. “Terrorism, for any reason, anywhere, is unjustifiable,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.