Why would a Muslim blow himself inside a mosque that was full of Muslims at prayer? The Qur’an forbids Muslims to kill other Muslims (4:92). But Islam has a death penalty for heretics and apostates. The jihad/martyrdom bomber may have considered that the local tribesmen, by killing a jihadi and capturing another, were “waging war against Allah and his messenger” (Qur’an 5:33), and thus deserved death.
“Suicide bomber kills at least 25 in Pakistani mosque,” by Shams Momand and Jibran Ahmad, Reuters, September 16, 2016:
A suicide bomber shouted “Allahu akbar” and blew himself up in a packed mosque in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 25 people and wounding 30 during Friday prayers, a local official said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Payee Khan, a village in Mohmand Agency that is part of the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.
“The suicide bomber was in a crowded mosque, he shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is greatest) and then there was a huge blast,” Naveed Akbar, deputy administrator of Mohmand Agency, told Reuters.
Akbar added that some fatalities appear to have been caused when part of the mosque caved in from the force of the blast.
“A portion of the mosque and verandah collapsed in the blast and fell on worshippers. We are still retrieving bodies and the injured from the rubble of the mosque,” he said.
Local tribal elder Haji Subhanullah Mohmand said the attack may have been carried out by Islamist militants seeking revenge after local tribesmen gathered a volunteer force and killed one and captured another insurgent.
“It seems to have enraged the militants and they got their revenge by carrying out a suicide attack in a mosque today,” Mohmand said….