The incident took place within the parametres of Police Station Doaba during the Friday sermon — a time when scores of believers are gathered at a mosque for their weekly prayer.
Hangu District Police Officer Nisar Ahmed said 30-40 people were under the rubble — as the mosque's roof caved in — and an operation was underway to rescue them.
Ahmed said two jacket wallahs were involved in the attack — one targeted the gate of the cop shoppe, and the other went
kaboom!inside the mosque.
The 12 people, rescued from the rubble, have been shifted to a nearby hospital, he said.
Caretaker Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Azam Khan, taking notice, directed officials to enforce an emergency in all hospitals of the city as he sought a report on the blast from law enforcers.
The police officials said that two gunnies tried entering the cop shoppe and started firing at the gate. They added that one of the Death Eaters was killed at the gate by the police in retaliatory fire.
Moreover, two coppers were also injured during the firing, officials of the law enforcement agency said, adding that the other hard boy went
kaboom!inside the mosque.
The timely action by the police resulted in fewer casualties following the blast, they added.
This was the second terror attack to hit Pakistain in a single day as earlier today, a suicide kaboom
in Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
's Mastung district killed at least 35 people including a police officer while injuring over 45.