By IANS,
Rawalpindi : Over 30 people, mostly army officers, were killed when suicide attackers hurled grenades and opened fire before blowing themselves up in a mosque where hundreds of people, including army personnel, had gathered for Friday prayers in this Pakistan garrison town.
The suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Parade Lane mosque, frequented by army personnel, near the Pakistan Army headquarters that had been the target of heavily-armed Taliban guerrillas Oct 10.
Senior police official Aslam Tareen said 40 people had been killed and 80 injured, Online reported. He said it was a suicide attack, with the attackers first throwing hand grenades inside the mosque and opening fire, before blowing themselves up.
Pakistan Army spokesperson Maj Gen Athar Abbas only confirmed that 32 people had been killed and 45 injured. Four terrorists have also been killed, he added.
According to sources, most of the killed people are said to be senior army officers of the rank of brigadier and major general.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik also put the number of dead over 30.
“According to the information I received a few moments ago, above 30 were killed and there are so many people injured,” Malik told a private television channel “There were two suicide bombers and the roof of the mosque collapsed,” he said.
Online news agency cited sources as saying eight terrorists attacked the mosque and exchanged gunfire with security officials before throwing hand grenades inside.
Ishtiaq, an eyewitness and driver of an army brigadier, said two back-to-back blasts rocked the mosque as the prayers concluded.
“The brigadier and his son had entered the mosque while I was being searched by the guards when I heard the first blast and soon after that a second one,” DPA quoted Ishtiaq as saying.
Army helicopters flew overhead and security personnel took up positions in the area. Security was stepped up in a sprawling walled compound near the mosque that also houses residential blocks for servicemen and their families.
According to Online, security officials found a grey Toyota car with number plate HV 508 near the mosque and it is suspected that it was used to transport the terrorists to the site. Five live hand grenades were recovered from the car and immediately defused by the bomb disposal squad.
Pakistan has been struck by a series of terror attacks since Oct 5, when the latest wave of violence was unleashed by the Taliban which is battling the army in the rugged terrain of South Waziristan.
Over 250 people have been killed in a spate of terror attacks in various parts of the country since Oct 5.