Al Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Responsibility for Deadly Pakistan Mosque Attack

Inside a police compound in Pakistan — a place built to shelter those who keep order — a mosque became the scene of a massacre this week, as gunmen struck during prayers and killed at least twenty-four people. A militant group with documented ties to Al Qaeda claimed the act, adding another chapter to the long and unresolved conflict that has smoldered along the Afghan border for decades. The attack is a reminder that sacred spaces and fortified institutions offer no guaranteed sanctuary when determined violence seeks them out. It raises, once again, the question of whether the forces arrayed