At least 221 people were injured in the blast.
A suicide bomber set off an explosion in Peshawar earlier in the day. Media said there were about 120 people inside the mosque when the blast went off, with most of them being members of the police and army.
About 100 are still receiving medical care and the rest have been discharged, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster added.
Media outlets reported that Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan* had allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Dawn later reported that the radical Islamist organization had denied its involvement in the explosion, saying that its rules prohibited attacks on mosques and public places. At the same time, sources told the news outlet that some local units of the organization could be behind the attack.
Who Are Tehrik-e-Taliban?
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is an Islamist alliance of several regional terrorist groups. It specifically opposes the governments of Pakistan and India, seeking to extend its influence to a number of regions of these states.
At the same time, the Taliban** movement in Afghanistan denies any connection with the eponymous alliance and has already condemned the deadly attack in Peshawar.
In late November, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan lifted the ceasefire agreed with the Pakistani government and ordered its fighters to carry out attacks across the country.
* banned in Russia
**under UN sanctions for terrorist activities