A Mosque Bombing Undercuts Pakistan’s Bid for Security

In recent years Pakistan arrested, jailed or killed dozens of Islamic State militants along its border with Afghanistan and was praised as a “phenomenal partner” by a U.S. official after extraditing the suspected plotter of a 2021 attack in Kabul that killed 13 Americans.

A suicide bombing on Friday at a mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad showed how fragile that progress has been. The attacker detonated a vest at the Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, killing at least 31 people and wounding 169; the Islamic State claimed responsibility.

The strike was the second major assault on Islamabad in less than three months and raised fears that insurgent violence was returning to urban centers after being contained in isolated areas. “The Islamic State is so evanescent,” said Iftikhar Firdous, executive director of The Khorasan Diary.

Pakistan, Islamabad