ISLAMABAD : A splinter group of Pakistani Taliban today claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Shia Mosque in garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The Jamatul Ahrar faction, which parted ways with the main Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last year, said that it orchestrated the attack on the Mosque-cum-community centre last night in which eight people were killed and 16 injured.
“We claim responsibility for the attack on the Rawalpindi Imambargah and we will continue such attacks in future,” the group’s spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed in a message sent to media houses.
The bomber attacked the the Mosque-cum-community centre at about 9.30 PM last night when a religious congregation was on in densely populated Chittian Hatian area of the city.
The attacker came on a motorbike and tried to enter the compound but set off the bomb near the gate when he was stopped by volunteers deployed at the entrance.
Investigations are on, but no arrest has been made so far. (AGENCIES)