The officers thought he was one of their colleagues.
The terrorist at the entrance to the fortified compound, Monday (photo: documentation on social networks according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law)
The suicide bomber who killed more than a hundred people this week in an attack on a mosque in a police compound in the city of Peshawar in Pakistan wore a police uniform, and entered the secured compound on a motorcycle - this is what the police chief in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district said today (Thursday).
The police chief, Muazzam Jah Ansari, said that the terrorist was identified as a member of a local terrorist network, without elaborating.
"I admit it was a security failure. My people couldn't stop it. It's my fault," said the police chief, after the deadliest attack in a decade in Peshawar.
The city in the northwest of the country, adjacent to Pashtun tribal areas near the Afghan border, has suffered for decades from terrorist attacks.
All but three of the dead were policemen, and it was the deadliest attack against the security forces in the Muslim country in modern times.
The bomber exploded as hundreds of worshipers gathered for afternoon prayers at a Sunni mosque built for family forces and their families inside a fortified police precinct built during the colonial era.
The police chief said that the security cameras showed that the terrorist, who was wearing a helmet and a mask, rode a motorcycle through the main checkpoint in the district.
After that, he parked the motorcycle, asked where the mosque was and walked there.
The explosion caused the roof of the 50-year-old mosque to collapse, and in addition to the 101 dead, another 225 people were injured.
"Policemen securing the main entrance thought he was a member of the force, they didn't check him," Ansari said.
Yesterday, the police chief said that the investigators do not rule out the possibility that the terrorist had help from the inside.
The police have already arrested a number of suspects.
"We will avenge the martyrdom of each of the policemen," he threatened.
He said that the security forces are close to arresting the members of the network responsible for the attack.
The fortified complex houses junior and middle-ranking police officers and their families, and hundreds of them unusually joined the demonstrations against the attack yesterday.
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The roof of the mosque collapsed.
The scene of the attack in Peshawar, yesterday (Photo: Reuters)
The most active terrorist organization in the region is the Pakistani Taliban, which recently increased its attacks against police forces in the province after announcing the end of a ceasefire last year.
Pakistan's defense minister blamed him, saying he was operating from neighboring Afghanistan, which is controlled by the Afghan Taliban.
Islamabad demands that Kabul act firmly against the Pakistani Taliban.
A senior member of the Pakistani Taliban accepted responsibility for the attack shortly after, but hours later its chief spokesman denied that the group was involved and said that it opposes attacks on mosques.
Pakistani officials suspect that Jamaat al-Ahrar, a splinter group from the organization, was involved.
Jamaat al-Ahrar has previously accepted responsibility for major attacks in the region, including a double suicide attack in a church in 2013, in which dozens of worshipers were killed.
It was the deadliest attack ever against the Christian minority in the country.
Violence in Pakistan has increased since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 with the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces after 20 years of war.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate organization, but a close ally of his.
In response to accusations that the terrorists who planned the attack on the mosque are using Afghanistan's territory to harm civilians and the security forces, the foreign minister in the Taliban government said that Pakistan should first examine the causes of the violence in its territory before placing the responsibility on Kabul.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shabazz Sharif, promised a "strong response" against those responsible for the attack.
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