Pakistan suicide blast: Brother of slain TTP commander claims Peshawar attack, calls it act of revenge

NEW DELHI: In yet another terror strike, Pakistan Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), carried out a deadly suicide bombing on a mosque in Peshawar, leaving at least 46 dead and scores injured.

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Shortly after the attack, the banned outfit claimed responsibility for the bombing.

TTP had threatened to carry out a series of terror attacks in Pakistan after ending its ceasefire with the Shehbaz Sharif government last year.

The Peshawar mosque attack is by far the biggest in the serious of attacks that TTP has been conducting targeting the security forces and their installations.

Sarbakaf Mohmand, a commander for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter. The main spokesman for the militant group was not immediately available for comment.

Mohmand is the brother of slain TTP commander Umar Khalid Khurasani, according to reports.

He claimed that the suicide attack was part of the revenge attack for his brother who was killed last August in Afghanistan.

Most of the casualties in the attack were police officers.

It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled compound, which houses the northwestern city of Peshawar's police headquarters and is itself is located in a high-security zone with other government buildings.

More than 300 worshippers were praying inside the mosque, with more approaching, when the bomber set off his explosives vest. Many were injured when the roof came down, according to Zafar Khan, a local police officer.

(With inputs from agencies)