Islamic State affiliate claims suicide bombing that killed 31 at Shiite
mosque in Pakistani capital
[February 07, 2026]
By MUNIR AHMED and MUHAMMAD YOUSAF
ISLAMABAD (AP) — An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed
responsibility overnight for a deadly suicide bombing inside a Shiite
mosque on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital that killed 31 people and
wounded 169 others, as mourners gathered Saturday under tight security
at the same mosque for funerals for the victims.
Authorities said officers identified the bomber, his facilitators and
arrested the mastermind of the attack.
The regional Islamic State affiliate, known as Islamic State in
Pakistan, claimed responsibility in a statement posted on its Amaq News
Agency. It said the attacker opened fire on security guards who tried to
stop him at the main gate and detonated his explosive vest after
reaching the mosque’s inner gate.
The Islamic State group suggested it viewed the Pakistani Shiites as
legitimate targets, calling them a “human reservoir” that provided
recruits to Shiite militias fighting the Islamic State in Syria.
Friday’s mosque bombing was the deadliest in Islamabad since a 2008
suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel that killed 63 people and wounded
more than 250. In November, a suicide bomber struck outside a court in
the capital, killing 12 people.
The latest attack comes as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government
grapples with a surge in militant attacks across Pakistan. According to
Pakistani authorities, the attacker was a Pakistani national who had
recently traveled to Afghanistan.
Pakistan arrests suspects linked to attack
Authorities said several suspects, including the brother, mother and
other relatives of the bomber, were arrested during overnight raids in
Islamabad and in northwestern Pakistan, and that a police officer was
killed in the operation.
State-run Pakistan TV reported on Saturday a breakthrough in the
investigation, with the arrest of an alleged Afghan with IS accused of
masterminding the attack. It reported that the bombing was planned by IS
in Afghanistan, which poses a threat to both regional and global
security. There was no immediate comment from Kabul about the latest
claims.
Funerals for the victims
More than 2,000 grief-stricken mourners gathered as coffins of those
killed were brought to the mosque for funerals for about a dozen
victims, joined by Shiite community leaders and senior government
officials. Funerals of other victims were to be held in their home
towns.
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Mourners carry coffins of the victims of Friday's suicide bombing
inside a Shiite mosque, after a funeral prayer, in Islamabad,
Pakistan, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
IS is a Sunni group that has targeted Pakistan's Shiite minority in
the past, apparently seeking to stoke sectarian divisions in the
majority Sunni country. In 2022 it claimed responsibility for a
suicide bombing that struck a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s
northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 56 and wounding 194.
Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told reporters
Friday that the attack signaled that Pakistan-based militants
operating from Afghanistan could strike even in the capital.
His remarks drew a sharp response from Afghanistan’s Taliban
government.
In a statement, Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry condemned the mosque
attack in Islamabad but said the Pakistani defense minister had
“irresponsibly” linked it to Afghanistan. Pakistan has frequently
accused Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power in August
2021, of harboring militants, including members of the Pakistani
Taliban. Kabul denies the accusations.
Attack draws international condemnation
The attack drew condemnation from the wider international community,
including the United States, Russia and the European Union.
Prime Minister Sharif said he was grateful for the messages of
sympathy and support received “from across the globe” following what
he called the “heart-wrenching suicide attack in Islamabad.” He said
international support remained critical to Pakistan’s
counterterrorism efforts and vowed the perpetrators would be brought
to justice.
Although Pakistan's capital has seen relatively few attacks compared
with other regions, the country has experienced a recent rise in
militant violence. Much of it has been blamed on Balochseparatists
and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or
TTP, which is a separate group but allied with Afghanistan’s
Taliban.
___
Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Riaz Khan and Rasool
Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan,
Pakistan, contributed to this story.
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