Two blasts in Peshawar Imambargah, 19 die, 50 injured

LIVE STORY:

06:00pm:Proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Khorasani Group has claimed responsibility of attack on Peshawar mosque during Friday prayers today.

05:00pm: Federal Interior Ministry has received preliminary investigation report of Peshawar Imambargah attack. The report says that four suicide bombers attacked the worship place and three of them blew up themselves. One bomber killed in police firing.

04:30pm: The attackers used a Lahore number plate car. After reaching to the place they set the car on fire, officials said. Peshawar district officer Riaz Mehsud has said that the attackers opened fire from a building near the mosque before conducting the suicide attack.

04:00pm: According to police the rescue and relief operations have been completed. The injured and bodies have been transferred to hospitals. Provincial health secretary has announced that 13 bodies of the victims have been identified.

03:55pm: The death toll in terrorist attack at Imambargah in Hayatabad locality of Peshawar has soared to 19, while over 50 others were injured in the incident.

03:48 pm: IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has stated that the body of an attacker is lying in the corridor of the imambargah.

 

According to reports two consecutive blasts at an Imambargah in Hayatabad area of Peshawar left at least 10 persons dead and  45 others injured. The sound of firing was also heard after the explosions.

The rescue teams reached to the place of the attack as wailing sirens of ambulances heard in the locality. The ambulances transferring the injured to hospitals as emergency has been declared at all major hospitals of Peshawar.

An exchange of fire between the law enforcement personnel and four to five attackers was said to be underway at the scene of the terrorist attack. Three attackers were seen in uniform engaged in shootout with the forces.

According to an eyewitness, six to seven terrorists in police uniforms reached at the mosque and opened fire at the security guards at the entrance. After which they entered in the mosque and opened fire at the people offering prayers. The attackers also hurled grenades and a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest leaving a large number of persons injured.

The contingents of armed forces and police have reached on the spot and cordoned off the area.

The story is developing more details to follow