(CNN) A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and injured 169 during Friday prayers at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, authorities said.

It was the deadliest attack in the country since January 2023, when a blast at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people.

Pakistan has witnessed a rising wave of militancy in recent years, but attacks have been less frequent in the heavily guarded capital. A bombing in Islamabad in November, which killed 12, was the deadliest suicide attack to rock the city in nearly two decades.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said the targeting of innocent civilians was “a crime against humanity,” and the entire nation stood “shoulder to shoulder with the families affected,” the Associated Press reported.

Afghanistan’s ministry of foreign affairs also condemned the attack. “The Islamic Emirate considers attacks that violate the sanctity of mosques and sacred religious rites and target worshippers and civilians to be in contradiction to Islamic and humanitarian values,” it said.

Early investigations into the incident had pointed the finger of suspicion at Pakistan’s Taliban, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), police sources said, but the TTP issued a statement saying it had “no connection whatsoever” with Friday’s attack.

“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s targets are clear and well-defined: Pakistan’s security institutions and their collaborators,” it added.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/06/asia/islamabad-pakistan-mosque-explosion-intl