Bombing in northwest Pakistan mosque kills 24, wounds 28

[rooster59]

Bombing in northwest Pakistan mosque kills 24, wounds 28 

ANWARULLAH KHAN, Associated Press

 

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber attacked a Sunni mosque in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 24 worshippers and wounding 28 others, officials said. Several children were also among those killed or wounded in the deadly attack.

 

A breakaway Taliban group later claimed responsibility for the bombing.

 

The attacker shouted "God is Great" as he entered the mosque in the village of Ambar in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal region, government administrator Naveed Akbar told The Associated Press. He said rescuers had transported the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals, where some of the wounded were listed in critical condition.

 

Akbar said about 200 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of attack.

 

Pashin Gul, the head of local tribal police, confirmed that it was a suicide attack. He said the bombing took place during Friday prayers, adding that several of the wounded were in a critical condition.

 

Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar — the breakaway Taliban faction — claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to media. He claimed the attacker targeted members of a pro-government militia.

 

The White House in a statement Friday condemned the attack, saying it is an "appalling reminder that terrorism threatens all countries in the region" and said the U.S. would continue to work with the Pakistani government to fight terrorism.

 

Saeed Khan, in charge of the hospital in the town of Khar, said an army helicopter was being used to transport the critically wounded to Peshawar, the main city in northwestern Pakistan.

 

One of the wounded, 41-year-old Ghulam Khan, 41, said he heard a deafening explosion during the prayers and then he fell down. "I cried for help, but no one came to me ... there were other bodies ... wounded worshippers, who were reciting verses from Quran and waiting for help," he told The Associated Press from his hospital bed.

 

Khan said local residents and tribal police helped ferry the wounded to hospital.

 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, which targeted a Sunni mosque. Previous such large-scale attacks have usually targeted Shiite mosques.

 

The country has witnessed several large-scale militant attacks this year, claimed by an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan issued a statement, condemning the attack.

 

Pakistan's tribal regions, which border Afghanistan, were considered to be strongholds of Pakistani Taliban militants until 2014, when the military launched a major operation there, evicting and killing large numbers of insurgents. However, violence has continued in some of the tribal regions.

 

Friday's attack came hours after army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss security issues. According to a government statement, Sharif pledged to continue the war against terrorism.

 

The military says some 18,000 civilians and 5,000 soldiers have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when Islamabad threw its support behind Washington in the war on terror.

 

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-17

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Must be Allah's will again.

 

The religion of peace in all it's splendour. 

[Doc46]

The brave White House Condemned the Attack,,,W.T.F .is that going to do ? Sweet F.A. All talk No Action.

[JetsetBkk]

53 minutes ago, Doc46 said:

The brave White House Condemned the Attack,,,W.T.F .is that going to do ? Sweet F.A. All talk No Action.

 

What else can they do? Put "boots on the ground" in Pakistan? I don't think so...

[coma]

At least whilst they are killing each other in their own homelands, they are leaving the rest of us alone. And who really should care what the US or any other Western country has got to say about the attack ? It happened on Pakistani soil. Nothing to do with anybody but Pakistan and, to a lesser extent, its neighbours.

[phantomfiddler]

Does it get any better ?

[simple1]

6 hours ago, coma said:

At least whilst they are killing each other in their own homelands, they are leaving the rest of us alone. And who really should care what the US or any other Western country has got to say about the attack ? It happened on Pakistani soil. Nothing to do with anybody but Pakistan and, to a lesser extent, its neighbours.

 

The group who claimed they carried out the murders, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, are aligned to the Afghan Taliban and and appear to switch allegiance between Al Qaeda & Daesh; they are a threat to Western interests.

Edited September 17, 2016 by simple1

[coma]

4 hours ago, simple1 said:

 

The group who claimed they carried out the murders, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, are aligned to the Afghan Taliban and and appear to switch allegiance between Al Qaeda & Daesh; they are a threat to Western interests.

 

Not whilst blowing up Mosques in Pakistan.

 

And the West will have the West believe that every group or person that isn't Western/er is a threat to the West.

[Chris Lawrence]

These battle plans cause wide spread suffering. We sit behind our computers and probably think but what can I do. In reality very little. Which is all part of the battle plan.

[i claudius]

6 hours ago, simple1 said:

 

The group who claimed they carried out the murders, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, are aligned to the Afghan Taliban and and appear to switch allegiance between Al Qaeda & Daesh; they are a threat to Western interests.

 

When and if they overcome western civilization ,they will then destroy themselves , religion of peace , yeh right .they hate each other , almost as much as they hate us .

[Rancid]

God is Great. This obviously never occurs to Islamist morons, but if God was really that interested in smiting those of religious beliefs he wasn't on board with, then he has a whole range of options in His arsenal, why send some half wit to blow people up. A nice hurricane or earthquake surely would send a more direct message and induce instant and widespread fear of His retribution?

Naturally it would never occur to them that God has nothing to do with it, the local priest/religious interpreter was the one that actually decided it would be nice to kill a few folks and found the most susceptible fool in in congregation to go and do it. The depths of human stupidity never fails to amaze.

[simple1]

2 hours ago, coma said:

 

Not whilst blowing up Mosques in Pakistan.

<snip>

 

We have differing opinions. The group is aligned to Al Qaeda / Daesh (reports vary on this issue) is a threat to Western interests in Pakistan & Afghanistan. The group have murdered people supporting the current Pakistani government, in addition to killing Pakistani Christians in an effort to further destabilise Pakistan. It is known Pakistani terrorists also operate in Afghanistan and murder coalition troops and Western civilians.

 

The leader of the group has named himself after the old Khorshan Caliphate, which is an objective of Daesh to reestablish. Highly unlikely to succeed, but in the meantime will possibly absorb Western blood and without doubt, money to counter.

[coma]

10 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

Western interests in Pakistan & Afghanistan. 

 

 

 

Why should the West have interests in those countries? I will answer for you. Cuz the West cannot help but stick their noses into other people's business continuously. That is why they have so many enemies. I guess D,heads don't learn from the past.

[Stargeezr]

Pakistan is a very corrupt country that has to learn that all terrorists are bad.  Kill off all the Taliban, ISIL, and other groups or you will always have his problem.

  Maybe get rid of some of your corrupt politicians as well, then maybe your future will have a chance. Just my red neck opinion of course.

Geezer

[KarenBravo]

If Mohammed Ali Jinnah could see Pakistan today, he would weep and cancel his demand of partition from India.

[simple1]

1 hour ago, coma said:

 

 

Why should the West have interests in those countries? I will answer for you. Cuz the West cannot help but stick their noses into other people's business continuously. That is why they have so many enemies. I guess D,heads don't learn from the past.

 

You are of course fully entitled to you world view. However, IMO, it's worth considering it would not be of benefit to the 'West' for Afghanistan to fall back under control of rabid Islamist 'Taliban control. In addition currently 90% of the world's supply of illegal heroin is sourced from Afghanistan, though the "West' has done a piss poor effort in this regard; plus of course massive undeveloped natural resources.

 

You know Pakistan is nuclear armed, its very much of interest to the West to have some degree of influence, with India being the next door neighbour with future huge trade expansion, wealth and a degree of counter balance to China. Accordingly it would be a disaster for Pakistan to fall under control of the Islamists.

[coma]

5 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

You are of course fully entitled to you world view. However, IMO, it's worth considering it would not be of benefit to the 'West' for Afghanistan to fall back under control of rabid Islamist 'Taliban control. In addition currently 90% of the world's supply of illegal heroin is sourced from Afghanistan, though the "West' has done a piss poor effort in this regard; plus of course massive undeveloped natural resources.

 

You know Pakistan is nuclear armed, its very much of interest to the West to have some degree of influence, with India being the next door neighbour with future huge trade expansion, wealth and a degree of counter balance to China. Accordingly it would be a disaster for Pakistan to fall under control of the Islamists.

 

 

Like it or not. And I have been saying this for years. Afghan WILL fall back into the hands of the Taliban. If not the Taliban then some other, bigger and more powerful group of thugs will run the wild west. That is Afghanistan. We Westerners are just prolonging the inevitable and the financial and human loss. Similar to a war back in the 60's and 70's in SEA. Prolonged the inevitable for 10 years with over 58000 US troops killed, hundreds of thousand wounded and who know how much money spent. Just so the "enemy" could reunite their "own country" in 75 and live nothing but a peaceful and prosperous existence right up until today.

 

As for Pakistan. If the Indians aren't worried about it then why should a foreign government from the other side of the planet be worried. If they step outside their box to do us harm them we make them pay BIG TIME. But until that happens then let them be. We may even make less enemies willing to harm us in the meantime.

[soc]

Muslims have no respect for each other or their places of worship, so why should we expect that they would ever respect us?

Coma is right.

lf western governments stopped sticking their beaks in to Middle Eastern affairs, we wouldn't have most of this trouble.

The annoying part is that its done in my name & while l disagree with it.

[SgtRock]

6 hours ago, simple1 said:

However, IMO, it's worth considering it would not be of benefit to the 'West' for Afghanistan to fall back under control of rabid Islamist 'Taliban control

 

It would be of even less benefit to Afghan Woman, Children and Afghanistan as a whole.

 

However, I have to agree with coma.

 

6 hours ago, coma said:

Like it or not. And I have been saying this for years. Afghan WILL fall back into the hands of the Taliban

 

Brutal x 10 does not even come close the day that happens.