MOSQUE BLAST

23 suspects arrested in Pakistan

AFP, Peshawar

Police in Pakistan have detained 23 people in connection to a blast at a mosque inside a police headquarters that killed 101 people, a senior official who asked not to be named said yesterday.

Authorities are also probing the possibility that people inside the compound helped to coordinate the attack, the senior provincial police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A suicide bomber slipped undetected into a highly sensitive compound in northwest Peshawar and detonated explosives among a row of worshippers in the compound’s mosque on Monday, causing a wall to collapse and crush officers.

“We have detained people from the police line (headquarters) to get to the bottom of how the explosive material made its way in and to see if any police officials were also involved in the attack,” the senior official said.

“The attacker and facilitators might have had links outside Pakistan.”

He said some among the 23 detained were also from the city and nearby former tribal areas which border Afghanistan.