Pakistan attack: Peshawar religious school holds prayers hours after blast

The Rising Nepal
28 Oct, 2020

Oct. 28 (BBC): Staff at a religious school in Pakistan cleared debris and opened for worship hours after a bomb attack on Tuesday that killed eight students.

The blast in the north-western city of Peshawar struck the madrassa's main prayer hall as a class was under way.

The muezzin who called the prayers said they wanted to show the attackers they "weren't defeated".

No one has claimed the attack in a city long troubled by violent extremism.

The morning blast took place as students studied the Koran, killing eight men aged between 20 and 40. It also left more than 80 other people wounded, many of them children.

Peshawar, close to the Afghan border, has in recent years suffered some of the worst violence linked to the Taliban insurgency in both countries.

Hours after the attack on Tuesday staff at the madrassa began a clean-up operation to prepare the main hall of the mosque, which is also used by the religious school, for afternoon prayers.

Photos showed seminary workers hosing down the walls and mopping the floors after police and investigators had finished collecting evidence from the scene.

Hafiz Naveed, the muezzin who called the afternoon prayers, told the BBC they organised the worship to show they "weren't defeated".

"We wanted to send a message that we didn't lose courage," said Mr Naveed, who is also a student at the madrassa, adding that the prayer room had been full of people.

He also said that whoever was behind the attack "was not following any religion. They have shed the blood of innocent students".

The madrassa is largely for adult students and caters to around 1,000 scholars, some of whom board at the seminary, a local official told the BBC.

Social media users in Pakistan shared screenshots of the resumed prayers on Twitter, praising the worship as an act of defiance against terrorism.

"You can't beat our courage with this cowards attacks," wrote one.

Another person posted that they had joined the prayers at the same mosque.

"This is bravery. This is Peace seeking. This is Peshawar. This is Pathan. This is ISLAM. U just can't beat Us," wrote the user.

Tuesday's bombing brought back still fresh memories of the attack on a military school in Peshawar six years ago that left more than 150 dead, most of them children.

The city has been hard-hit by militant violence that was widespread in Pakistan a decade ago.

An army crackdown in the years which followed the school massacre resulted in the number of attacks being greatly reduced in the country.

The attack on the madrassa was the first "soft" target hit by suspected militants in Peshawar since the 2014 attack on the Army Public School, correspondents say.

Latest reports suggest the Pakistan Taliban have been regrouping in areas which had been cleared following the school massacre.

Reporting by Usman Zahid