An attack on a Shia mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least 20 people and injured more than 65 others, government officials say.
At least four suicide bombers, wearing security forces uniforms, hit the Imamia mosque during Friday prayers, officials and witnesses said.
Three of the attackers succeeded in exploding their vests, while one was unable to do so, Shafqat Malik, the chief of Peshawar’s police Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU), told Al Jazeera. The unexploded vest was defused by the BDU, he added, while several grenades were also recovered from the site.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack in an emailed statement.
Senior police official Rana Umer Hayat said several gunmen threw grenades into the mosque before storming the building.
The attackers appeared to gain access to the mosque, which is under tight security, from an under-construction building next door.
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