Pakistani security forces have arrested four suspects in connection with a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad that killed 31 people and wounded 169 more, according to reporting by The Associated Press. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the arrests followed raids at multiple locations.
The attack, which took place on Friday, struck a mosque in a capital city that has seen relatively few such incidents compared with other parts of Pakistan. The AP report said the bomb blast was the deadliest in Islamabad since the 2008 attack on the Marriott Hotel, which killed 63 people. It also followed another bombing outside a court in November that killed 12.
A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, identifying itself as Islamic State in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement carried by Amaq News Agency. The statement said the attacker first opened fire on security guards at the mosque gate before detonating an explosive vest after reaching the inner gate. The group’s message framed Shiites as legitimate targets.
Naqvi described the alleged mastermind as an Afghan linked to IS. He said the attack had been planned in Afghanistan and that the bomber was trained there with financial backing from India, but he provided no evidence for those allegations in the AP report. There was no immediate response from New Delhi or Kabul.
The arrests came as Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged accusations over cross-border militancy. Pakistan has often alleged that militants operate from Afghan territory, while Kabul denies those claims. Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry rejected any link to the bombing in Islamabad and criticized Pakistan’s defense minister for connecting the attack to Afghanistan.
The mosque bombing also underscored the continuing threat of sectarian violence in Pakistan. IS has targeted the country’s Shiite minority before, including a 2022 suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Peshawar that killed at least 56 people. In this case, the attack sparked an outpouring of grief, with more than 2,000 mourners gathering for funerals in Islamabad.
Naqvi said the security services were working to prevent further attacks and argued that many plots are disrupted before they can be carried out. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan would bring the perpetrators to justice and thanked foreign governments for messages of support. The AP report said condemnation came from the United States, Russia and the European Union.
The evidence supplied for this story supports three points: arrests were made, the attack was deadly, and the investigation remained politically and regionally sensitive. It does not resolve the question of who ultimately directed the bombing or whether the allegations about training and financing can be substantiated.
