EMILY KWONG, HOST:
A suicide bomber killed 31 people at a mosque in Pakistan's capital yesterday, injuring more than 170 others, authorities say. This is the deadliest attack in Islamabad in more than a decade, and it follows a blast in November outside a courthouse that killed 12 people. Betsy Joles reports from Lahore, Pakistan.
BETSY JOLES, BYLINE: The attack happened in the afternoon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Islamabad's outskirts. Footage in its aftermath shows dark splatters on the concrete and rows of rescue vehicles lined up to enter the mosque's gates. It was followed by calls for blood donations from hospitals, which were spread through social media and local TV.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, a subgroup of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. The mosque they targeted is for worshippers from the Shia sect of Islam. Abdul Basit from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore says Islamic state affiliates in the region were weakened last year, but...
ABDUL BASIT: So in a way, they are trying to send this message that they have recovered and they are back.
JOLES: This attack has happened amid a surge in militant violence in Pakistan that has stoked tensions with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Pakistan says the Taliban gives space for militant groups to operate. The Taliban denies this. But Abdul Basit says the Taliban has its own issues with the Islamic state. He says this is evident in the information warfare between them online.
BASIT: They ideologically undermine the legitimacy of the Taliban. They keep challenging the Taliban. So that is where it hurts the Taliban the most. These guys do not believe in nation states. They do not believe in orders.
JOLES: But he says the Taliban also hasn't been able to limit the group much. Attacks of this scale in the capital, Islamabad, are rare. And Basit says the blast was also a significant failure from the Pakistan side.
BASIT: There was a suicide bomber lurking around in the capital.
JOLES: As for the targeting of a Shia mosque, Abdul Basit says it's likely meant to stir sectarian tensions in a country that has struggled to overcome them.
For NPR News, I'm Betsy Joles in Lahore, Pakistan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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