World

Suicide bomb at political rally in Pakistan kills more than 40

  • More than 130 injured in blast, police say
  • Pakistan PM calls bombing an assault on democratic system
  • Pakistani Taliban condemn bombing in assertion

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) – At least 42 individuals had been killed and over 130 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a political rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, police and rescue officers mentioned.

The blast passed off at a gathering of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) celebration, identified for its hyperlinks to hardline political Islam, in the previous tribal space of Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan.

An emergency has been declared in the hospitals of Bajaur and adjoining areas the place many of the injured had been taken, mentioned district police officer Nazir Khan. The critically injured had been transported from Bajaur to hospitals in the provincial capital Peshawar by navy helicopters.

A press release from Rescue 1122, a first-responder service, put the loss of life toll at 42.

Khan mentioned the explosion, at a JUI-F employees conference in Khar city of Bajaur, had left more than 130 injured, many critically.

The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat advised Reuters the explosion was brought on by a suicide bomb.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of assaults by Islamist militants since final 12 months when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down. A mosque bombing in Peshawar killed over 100 individuals earlier this 12 months.

While the TTP and its related teams have been behind a majority of assaults in Pakistan in latest months, the group distanced itself from Sunday’s assault, which its spokesman condemned.

The TTP pledges allegiance to, however shouldn’t be immediately part of, the Taliban in western neighbour Afghanistan. Pakistan’s safety forces say the TTP have sanctuaries in Afghanistan, which the Taliban run-administration there denies.

Afghanistan’s administration condemned the explosion in a press release by their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

The TTP will not be the one militant group to hold out assaults in the realm, which has additionally been hit by an area chapter of the Islamic State.

The focused celebration, the JUI-F, is a serious ally of the coalition authorities of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which is making ready for nationwide elections to be held by November.

Sharif condemn the blast, calling it an assault on the democratic technique of Pakistan. He vowed that these accountable could be punished.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan additionally condemned the explosion in posts on messaging platform on X, previously referred to as Twitter.

Reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Pakistan; Nilutpal Timsina; Writing by Gibran Peshimam;
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Christina Fincher

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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