Punjab on high alert after Peshawar suicide bombing

LAHORE – The provincial administration has put the law enforcement agencies on high alert after the Peshawar suicide attack that killed at least 62 worshippers and wounded more than 200.

Reports in local media said Inspector-General of police Rao Sardar ordered the forces to be on high alert. All Regional Police Officers and District Police Officers are told to beef up the security of sensitive and critical locations.

The top cop of the country’s most populous region also instructed forces to put up security plans for significant religious and public places. Search and sweep operations to be ramped up in all districts of the province, reports said.

Furthermore, IGP also directed that the surveillance of inter-provincial and inter-district checkpoints be tightened and patrolling during the night be increased.

The security alert comes after more than 60 worshipers lost their lives, while close to 200 were injured in a suicide bomb attack during Friday prayers at Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani bazaar.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan's aide Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif had confirmed that the explosion took place during Friday prayers.“Reportedly the terrorists first tried to enter the mosque where they exchanged fire with the police,” he said.

Earlier, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad had said that there was no threat alert issued for the attack. Foreign enemies are trying to ruin the peace in Pakistan, he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, while expressing condolences with families of victims, prayed for the recovery of the injured.

“Have personally been monitoring operations and coordinating with CTD and agencies in the wake of the cowardly terrorist attack on Peshawar Imambargah. We now have all info regarding origins of where the terrorists came from and are going after them with full force," Khan said on Twitter.