Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said uninjured worshipers came to the aid of the injured.
People cry next to the coffins of their relatives during funeral prayers a day after a suicide bomb attack at an imambargah in Islamabad. Photo: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
A worshiper at Imambargah in Islamabad, where dozens of people were killed in a suicide bombing on Friday, described an “extremely powerful” explosion that leveled the building just after prayers began.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP that he arrived at Imambargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra shortly after 1pm on Friday and sat down about seven or eight rows from the imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunshots,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were taken for treatment.
“And while we were still in a tilted position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed but accompanied his injured friend to PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was not clear whether it was a suicide attack, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris was falling from the roof and windows were breaking,” he added. “When I came out, many bodies were scattered… Many people lost their lives.”
Another worshiper, Imran Mahmood, described a shootout between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide bomber was trying to advance, but one of our wounded volunteers shot him from behind and hit him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding that the attacker “then jumped to the door and detonated the explosives.”
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said uninjured worshipers came to the aid of the injured.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunk of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived between 20 and 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“Afterwards no one was allowed to approach the mosque.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three or four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen adequate security,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the equipment to do so effectively,” he said.
