Pakistan mosque bomber was disguised as a policeman, official says

ISLAMABAD. KAZINFORM The suicide bomber who targeted a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, killing more than 80 people, was a member of the Pakistani Taliban disguised as a policeman, a senior official said Thursday, Kazinform reports citing CNN.

CCTV footage shows the suspected bomber arriving at a police checkpoint on a scooter Monday, asking a constable the direction to the mosque, and being let through since he was in uniform, said Moazzam Jah Ansari, police chief of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

«This was a suicide bomber and we have traced his movement. He was in a police uniform,» Ansari said.

«We are closing in on the network. Every life of our martyrs will be avenged,» he added.

Officials had previously put the death toll at more than 100, but some of the bodies were counted twice, Ansari said. The blast also injured 217.

Police believe 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds) of explosives were used by the bomber.

Video footage showed the destroyed walls of the mosque, its glass windows and paneling destroyed by the powerful explosion.

Emergency workers searched for survivors, but authorities said most of those found under the rubble were already dead.

Фото: Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images