At least 42 people including, 17 children, and five military top brass were killed and 80 others sustained injuries when suicide bombers, in one of the deadliest assaults on a religious congregation, targeted a mosque at Parade Lane on Peshawar Road after Juma prayers in Rawalpindi on Friday.

The targeted mosque is located just few miles away from the Pakistan army’s general headquarters (GHQ) which has earlier come under such an attack. According to reports, the army officers who were killed include Major-General Bilal Omer Khan, Major-General Mohammad Awais, Brigadier Rauf, Colonel Sohail, Hasham Khan, the son of Crops Commander Peshawar Lt. General Masood Aslam.

Several senior serving and retired military officers were also among the injured. They included a former vice chief of the army staff, Gen Muhammad Yousuf (retd) (also known as Gen Joe), a brigadier, a colonel and a couple of majors.

BBC’s Islamabad correspondent wrote: This attack happened inside a so-called red zone, supposed to be a very secure location. It is close to military facilities and in an area where many senior army officers live. They were known to attend this mosque for prayers.

Once again, the militants are taking this fight to the army and showing they can strike inside a secure protected location.

Certainly, this is part of a pattern of targeting military and security sites. It is something not only restricted to Rawalpindi, but happening in other Pakistani cities as well.

As anger and sadness gripped Rawalpindi and rest of the country, a top leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the brazen attack.

The head of TTP’s South Waziristan operations, Waliur Rehman, told the BBC that militants loyal to his organisation had carried out the attack on the mosque.

A senior police official said that some suspects were taken into custody by the security forces and they were being interrogated.

Partial list of those killed:

Major-General Umer Bilal Khan - DG Armored Corps
Major-General Mohammad Awais
Brigadier Rauf
Colonel Sohail
Brigadier Abdul Rauf
Lieutenant Colonel Fakhar
Lieutenant Colonel Manzoor Saeed
Major Zahid
Major (Retd) Shoaib
Naik Masood
Sepoy Abdul Qayyum
Sepoy Sarwar
Bilal Riaz S/O Major General Nasim Riaz
Ali Hassan S/O Colonel Shabbir
Hassan S/O Colonel Shukhran
Sadaul Hassan S/O Lieutenant Colonel Fakhar
Zamin S/O Engineer Akmal Hussain
Qaisar Khan S/O Syed Akbar
Adil Rauf S/O Abdul Rauf
Muhammad Khan S/O Sultan Bakhsh
Fazal Khan S/O Madad Khan
Hasham Khan S/O Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. General Masood Aslam
Name not known S/O Brigadier ® Sadiq
Name not known S/O Brigadier Mumtaz
Name not known S/O Colonel Qaiser
Name not known S/O Colonel Kaleem Zubair
Name not known S/O Lieutenant Colonel Shoaib
Name not known S/O Major Saleem
Name not known S/O Major Ahsan
Deputy Director NLC Taskeen
F/O Major General Awais Mustafa
F/O, Colonel Kaleem Zubair
F/O, Lieutenant Colonel Farooq Awan
Civilians:
Kahlid Javed
Ghulam Mujtaba
Javed S/O Ghani Khan
Muhammad Fiaz
Asad