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‘Ran inside during prayer, blew himself up’: Eyewitnesses recall moment before Islamabad ‘suicide’ blast
The explosion occurred shortly after prayers began, a time when mosques are typically crowded.
Minutes before the blast that has now claimed at least 31 lives, worshippers were gathered for Friday prayers at a Shiite imambargah in Islamabad when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance of the mosque.
Police sources said the attacker was intercepted by security guards at the main gate of the imambargah but managed to detonate himself after running at least 20 metres inside the premises, AFP reported.
However, eyewitnesses have said that the terrorist was stopped at the main entrance of the religious site, which is when the terrorist start firing.
“He then ran inside at least 20 metres, and as the prayer was underway, he blew himself up,” Geo News cited the eyewitnesses as saying.
The explosion occurred shortly after prayers began, a time when mosques are typically crowded.
The casualty toll is expected to rise further, with more than 130 people injured.
Eyewitnesses and security officials said the attacker first opened fire when stopped by guards, injuring security personnel, before running further inside the premises and triggering the blast around 20 metres from the gate, according to a Geo News report.
Rescuers and the wounded discussed what really went before the explosion.
Hussain Shah said he was praying in the mosque courtyard when a sudden, loud explosion occurred. “I immediately thought that some big attack has happened,” he said, according to a report by the Associated Press.
He said he then entered the mosque to scenes of chaos, with many of the wounded screaming and crying out for help. Shah said he counted around 30 bodies inside the mosque, while the number of wounded appeared to be significantly higher.
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What happened after the explosion?
The force of the explosion shattered windows of the three-storey Imambargah as well as nearby residential buildings.
Adults and children were rushed to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on stretchers and in private vehicles, many with blood-soaked clothes. At least one injured person arrived in the boot of a car. Friends and relatives of the wounded were seen screaming and crying outside the heavily guarded emergency ward.
Following the blast, law enforcement agencies, including Pakistan Army troops and Rangers, cordoned off the area as rescue operations were launched.
Hospitals in the capital were overwhelmed, prompting authorities to shift some injured patients to medical facilities in Rawalpindi.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon said an emergency had been imposed at PIMS, Polyclinic Hospital and the Capital Development Authority hospital to manage the influx of casualties.
