A total of 13 civilians have lost their lives while 32 were injured when two suicide bombers exploded themselves near the entrance check-post of Bannu cantonment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at iftar time on Tuesday.

Several women and children are among the causalities. According to the footage received from the ground, smoke can be seen rising from the spot and heavy firing could be heard from the area. Because of the impact of the bomb houses of civilians and a mosque also got damaged.  

According to a local, people were offering maghrib prayer in the mosque right after breaking their fast when the attack began.

In a video message circulating on social media, Malik Rahat Khan, a resident of the area said, “This brutality is happening in the holy month of Ramzan. We are taking out our family members from the rubble and such activities have no connection to Islam.” He also said that every day we prepared Iftaar for almost 40-50 people in that mosque and the majority of them got injured.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the attack and said, “Terrorists attacking civilians in this holy month are cowards and they do not deserve any leniency.”

Provincial Minister Pakhtunyar Khan also condemned the attack and in a video message said, “As a resident of Bannu, I want to condemn this attack strongly. Attacking women and children while they are breaking their fast is the highest level of brutality and also cowardly of these terrorists.”

Meanwhile, the Hafiz Gul Bahadar affiliated Jaish Al Fursan claimed the attack in a statement and that two vehicles full of explosives were detonated.

The group published a video yesterday of Al Hamza Suicide Squad under Jaishul Fursan. Referring to the current spate of attacks as ‘Intiqam-e-Lal Masjid’.

The group had recently published that Ilyas Khasmiri’s 313 Brigade and some men of Al-Qaeda In the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) had joined.

ISPR later said that all 16 attackers who were involved in the attack were neutralised.