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Security officials inspect the site of a mosque blast inside the police headquarters in Peshawar on January 30, 2023. /AFP
Police officers were among at least 47 killed and 150 wounded in a blast at a mosque inside a highly sensitive Pakistan police headquarters on Monday, prompting the government to put the country on high alert.
The attack happened during afternoon worship in the provincial capital of Peshawar, close to former tribal areas along the Afghan border where militancy has been steadily rising.
A frantic rescue mission was underway at the mosque, which had an entire wall and some of its roof blown out by the force of the blast.
"Many policemen are buried under the rubble," said Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan, who estimated between 300 and 400 officers usually attended prayers at the mosque.
"Efforts are being made to get them out safely," he added.
Bloodied survivors emerged limping from the wreckage, while bodies were ferried away in ambulances as the rescue operation continued.
"It's an emergency situation," Muhammad Asim Khan, a spokesman for the main hospital in Peshawar, told AFP, adding that at least 47 had been killed and 150 wounded.
As darkness fell, at least four men were still trapped in the wreckage, visible through cracks in the concrete, alongside bodies yet to be recovered.
"We have given them oxygen so that they don't have problems in breathing," said Bilal Ahmad Faizi, a spokesperson for the rescue organization 1122.
(With input from AFP)
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Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466