Militants storm Pakistan mosque killing 36 people

MILITANTS stormed a mosque near Pakistan’s army headquarters, killing at least 36 worshippers, including six military officers, during prayers yesterday as they sprayed gunfire and threw grenades before blowing themselves up, officials said.

It was the latest in a wave of strikes by suspected Islamist insurgents that has killed more than 400 people in Pakistan since October.

The rampage in a heavily fortified area in the garrison city of Rawalpindi also brought the war home to the military brass as insurgents persist with brazen attacks despite several army offensives against them in north-western regions bordering Afghanistan.

A military statement said four attackers hurled grenades, then opened fire as they rushed toward the mosque, which was located on Parade Lane in a military residential colony, just a few miles from the capital. Two suicide bombers then blew themselves up inside, while the other two militants were killed in an exchange of gunfire, it said.

The dead included a major general, a brigadier, two lieutenant colonels, one major and a retired major as well as three regular soldiers, military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said. Seventeen children and 10 civilians also were killed.

City residents said access to the mosque was mostly restricted to soldiers and their families.

Witnesses said two of the militants entered the mosque, which had up to 200 worshippers inside, while others ran into buildings nearby.

Security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour before they blew themselves up or were killed.

Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque as he walked there to pray.

“They were killing people like animals,” he said. “I couldn’t understand what was happening.”

The mosque’s walls and prayer mats were covered in blood and shattered glass lined the floor.