(Update with latest toll and TTP reaction):
Peshawar: The Pakistani security establishment today received a massive hit as a huge bomb explosion at the Police Lines here killed at least 59 and injured nearly 160, mostly police and Pakistan Army personnel.
At around 1.40 pm local time (2.10 pm IST) a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque located inside the high-security Police Lines in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province during Zohr prayers, officials and witnesses said.
The bomber was in the front row and triggered the explosion seconds after the Imam started the prayers, they said.
The blast was so strong that the victims were tossed several metres away.
The roof and a portion of the building collapsed and several people were trapped under it.
The main hall of the mosque had the capacity of 250-300 people and there were many personnel of the police and Pakistan Army inside at that time, according to officials and eyewitnesses.
The casualty figure continued to climb through the day as rescuers extracted bodies from the rubble.
Several people, mostly security personnel, we’re still believed to be under the debris.
Peshawar Commissioner Riaz Mehsood said rescue operation was continuing as a number of people were still buried under the rubble.
Peshawar City Police Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan said that the roof of the mosque collapsed due to the blast and a number of Army jawans are still stuck under the rubble.
He said around 400 police personnel were present in the area at the time of the incident.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which was being blamed by authorities, said it has nothing to do with the attack in the mosque of Peshawar Police Lines.
“We consider it necessary to clarify that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has nothing to do with this incident. According to our laws and general constitution, any act in mosques, madrasas, funeral homes and other sacred places is an impeachable offence,” TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurasani said in a late night statement to News Vibes of India (NVI).
