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PESHAWAR, Sep 29 (APP):At least five worshippers including a cop were killed and 12 others wounded when two suicide bombers attacked a masjid, inside the parameters of Doaba police station in Hangu district during Friday prayer.
As per the District Police Officer Hangu, Nasir Ahmad, two suicide bombers targeted the masjid, initiating the attack by opening fire at the police. The police of Doaba successfully neutralized one suicide bombers at the mosque’s entrance through gunfire.
However, the other assailant managed to enter inside the masjid and detonated himself, where 30 to 40 worshippers were present for Friday prayer.
Police said that those martyred in the bombings included a policeman and four civilians. two policemen were also injured in the terrorists firing. The 12 people, rescued from the rubble, have been shifted to a nearby hospital, he said.
According to SHO Shahraz, the blast ripped through the masjid during the last sermon of Friday prayers. Roof of the masjid collapsed following the explosion which caused most of the casualties.
He said the firing at the gate by the police in which one of the terrorists was killed, alerted the worshipers and most of them moved to safe positions, otherwise the number of dead and injured would be higher. The timely action by the police resulted in fewer casualties following the blast, he added.
He said security forces cordoned off the area after the blast while rescuers started rescue operations and shifted the injured people to District Headquarters Hospital where a state emergency has already been declared.
Meanwhile, caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Azam Khan, taking notice of the incident, has directed officials to enforce an emergency in all hospitals of the city as he sought a report on the blast from law enforcers.
This was the second terror attack to hit Pakistan in a single day as earlier today, a suicide blast in Baluchistan’s Mastung district killed at least 35 people including a police officer while injuring over 45.