A faction of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an apparent suicide attack on a Shi'ite mosque in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which killed seven people and wounded 15 others.
The powerful explosion on Friday night in northern Punjab state triggered chaos as dozens of minority Shi'ite Muslims gathered in the mosque to distribute alms to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.
"We claim responsibility of the attack on the Shi'ite mosque and vow to continue such attacks against enemies of Islam," spokesman of the Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Ehsanullah Ehsan, said in an email.
"We want to make it clear to these infidel rulers that we will not be impressed by any of their laws or hangings," he added.
Pakistan has strengthened its own offensive against the Pakistani Taliban since their attack on a military-run school on December 16 killed 150 people, 134 of them children.
The country ended its six-year-old moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases last month after the massacre.
Nine convicted militants have been hanged so far since the de facto ban on capital punishment ended.
To further boost its efforts, the government on Friday announced it was setting up nine military courts to hear terrorism-related cases.
