Peshawar, Pakistan – Naib Rehman lies on his health center mattress together with his leg wrapped in plaster. The 44-year-old remembers that as he stood for the afternoon prayer at the side of 300 different worshippers, an enormous blast shook the mosque within the northwestern Pakistani town of Peshawar.
A minimum of 100 other folks, maximum of them policemen, had been killed and greater than 225 other folks wounded within the suicide blast on Monday, the deadliest in a decade as assaults by way of armed teams are on the upward push.
“I used to be status with my pals when the blast threw us away, and simply as we attempted to get our bearings, inside of a couple of seconds, all of the roof collapsed,” Rehman, who works within the telecommunications division for the police, informed Al Jazeera.
“We had been fortunate sufficient to have the option and crawled out, however my leg used to be badly wounded,” Rehman mentioned. Like lots of the wounded, he used to be dropped at the town’s primary health center, Woman Studying.
Rehman mentioned he’s decided to hold on.
“Despite the fact that I misplaced a couple of of my pals, it’ll no longer deter me,” he mentioned as he lay with seven different sufferers in a health center ward. “I will be able to return to my process. That is my responsibility. I will be able to no longer be terrified of this assault.”
Top Minister Shehbaz Sharif has condemned the assault and promised “stern motion”. Officers have introduced an investigation into the blast in a high-security police zone.
“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unattainable,” Sharif tweeted after visiting Peshawar. “That is a minimum of an assault on Pakistan.”
A faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), sometimes called the Pakistani Taliban, claimed duty for the assault, however a TTP spokesman later denied a task within the blast.
A tenuous months-long ceasefire between the TTP and Pakistan collapsed remaining 12 months and the crowd has since intensified its assaults in opposition to Pakistani safety staff.
Yashwa Tariq, a 28-year-old police constable, used to be on an obligation in Peshawar when he won a choice from a chum on Monday afternoon telling him that his area subsequent to the mosque have been broken in an explosion.
“My middle simply sank,” mentioned Tariq, who rushed house. He described what he discovered as rubble and utter chaos.
“All my neighbours and pals had been making an attempt to take away the particles with their naked palms,” he mentioned. “I controlled to seek out my son who used to be harm, utterly coated in mud and couldn’t open his eyes.”
Tariq’s spouse, sister and grandmother had been trapped underneath the collapsed roof in any other room. The police constable controlled to get his son out and rushed him to Woman Studying Medical institution, praying that the remainder of his circle of relatives would live to tell the tale.
His spouse, son and sister did, however his maternal grandmother, Rasheeda Bibi, used to be killed.
“My spouse has suffered a fracture in each her legs,” Tariq informed Al Jazeera. “My sister has a gash in her head. My son is affected by trauma. My grandmother has died. I’ve nowhere to return to. I don’t have a house anymore.”
A number of different homes subsequent to the mosque the place policemen reside had been additionally broken.
The affect of the blast used to be so critical that it introduced down the roof over the principle prayer corridor of the mosque, underneath which with regards to 300 worshippers had been about to start their prayers.
Kashif Aftab Abbasi, a senior superintendent of police operations in Peshawar, showed to Al Jazeera that preliminary police investigations discovered that the blast used to be brought about by way of a suicide bomber and the majority of deaths used to be brought about by way of the roof cave in.
Greater than 90 p.c of those that died labored for the police.
The explosion within the Police Traces Mosque used to be the primary main assault in Peshawar since March when a Shia mosque used to be attacked by way of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province, killing greater than 60 other folks.
Muhammed Asim, a Woman Studying Medical institution spokesman, mentioned the placement on the facility on Monday used to be “overwhelming” as ambulances introduced in droves of lifeless and wounded.
In contrast to Rehman, Yasir Khan – a police constable who additionally lives in Police Traces, a secured a part of Peshawar the place necessary govt installations are – says the incident has shaken his self belief.
“We’re conscious about the assaults on police and safety officers,” the 29-year-old informed Al Jazeera whilst status close to the rubble of the mosque. “We predict assaults on checkpoints. However lets by no means have imagined an assault going down inside of our compound. It’s so closely guarded.”
Deciding to go away his process hasn’t ever as soon as took place to him, he mentioned. “That is the process that feeds us. My father used to be within the police as neatly. What else am I going to do if no longer this? My spouse requested me to surrender the process and transfer again to our village, however I informed her responsibility comes first.”
Kamran Khan, a central authority instructor, mentioned that after he noticed the inside track of the explosion on TV, he rushed to the blast website within the Police Traces compound. His brother Irfanullah in addition to his cousin Shafiq labored within the police division.
His brother used to be amongst the ones killed whilst his cousin used to be admitted to Woman Studying Medical institution.
“We’re 8 siblings, and Irfanullah used to be 3rd.” Khan mentioned. “He labored as a central authority instructor like me for the longest time, however he at all times aspired to put on a uniform.”
Irfanullah, who joined the police in 2010, is survived by way of 5 kids, two sons and 3 daughters.
“I used to take a look at to prevent him from becoming a member of the drive,” Khan mentioned. “However now, I will be able to no longer simplest inspire his son to practice in his father’s footsteps, I will be able to additionally push my very own son to enroll in. I would like them to serve the country and honour Irfanullah’s title.”
Abid Hussain is Al Jazeera’s virtual correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @abidhussayn.
