A suicide blast claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad killed a minimum of 31 individuals on Friday (February 6, 2026), with 169 extra wounded within the deadliest assault in Pakistan’s capital for the reason that 2008 Marriott resort bombing.
Metropolis officers stated 31 individuals died within the explosion on the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque within the Tarlai space on the town’s outskirts, with scores extra being handled for accidents. The demise toll was anticipated to rise additional.
The blast occurred throughout Friday prayers, when mosques across the nation are filled with worshippers. “The attacker was stopped on the gate and detonated himself,” a safety supply advised AFP.
IS stated one in every of its militants had focused the congregation, detonating an explosive vest and “inflicting a lot of deaths and accidents”, in accordance with the SITE Intelligence Group, which screens jihadist communications.
Muhammad Kazim, a 52-year-old worshipper, stated an “extraordinarily highly effective” explosion ripped by means of the constructing as prayers had been simply beginning.
“In the course of the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he advised AFP.
“And whereas we had been nonetheless within the bowing place, an explosion occurred,” he stated.
One other worshipper, Imran Mahmood, advised AFP there was a gunfight between the bomber, a potential confederate and volunteer safety personnel on the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was attempting to maneuver ahead, however one in every of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him within the thigh,” he stated.
He then “detonated the explosives”, Mahmood, in his fifties, added.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that these behind the blast can be discovered and dropped at justice.
The assault was the deadliest within the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 individuals had been killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed a part of the five-star Marriott resort.
Our bodies, bloodied clothes, particles
AFP journalists on the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital noticed a number of individuals, together with kids, being carried in on stretchers or by their legs and arms.
Medics and bystanders helped unload victims with blood-soaked garments from the again of ambulances and autos. At the very least one casualty arrived within the boot of a automobile.
Associates and kin of the wounded wept and screamed as victims — lifeless or alive — arrived on the hospital’s closely guarded emergency ward.
One other crew of AFP journalists noticed armed safety forces exterior the mosque, the place swimming pools of blood had been seen on the bottom.
Yellow crime-scene tape surrounded an investigation space, with footwear, clothes and damaged glass scattered across the web site.
Movies shared on social media, which AFP was not capable of confirm instantly, confirmed a number of our bodies mendacity close to the mosque’s entrance gate, with individuals and particles additionally strewn throughout the red-carpeted prayer corridor.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar branded the assault “a heinous crime towards humanity and a blatant violation of Islamic rules”.
“Pakistan stands united towards terrorism in all its types,” he stated in a submit on X.
UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres stated “assaults towards civilians and locations of worship are unacceptable”, in accordance with his spokesman.
Rising insurgencies
The assault comes as Pakistan’s safety forces battle intensifying insurgencies in southern and northern provinces that border Afghanistan.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority nation, however Shiites make up between 10% and 15% of the inhabitants and have been focused in assaults all through the area prior to now.
Islamabad has stated separatist armed teams in southern Balochistan, and the Pakistani Taliban and different Islamist militants in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province close to Islamabad, have used Afghan territory as a protected haven from which to launch assaults.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities has repeatedly denied Pakistan’s accusations.
Bilateral relations have plummeted, with forces from each side often clashing alongside the border.
The final main assault in Islamabad happened in November when a suicide blast exterior a court docket killed 12 individuals and wounded dozens, the primary such incident to hit the capital in almost three years.
In Balochistan, assaults claimed by separatist insurgents final week killed 36 civilians and 22 safety personnel, prompting a wave of counter-operations by which authorities stated safety forces killed virtually 200 militants.
Revealed – February 07, 2026 10:03 am IST