KHAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in a former stronghold of militants in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing no less than 44 folks and wounding almost 200 in an assault {that a} senior chief mentioned was meant to weaken Pakistani Islamists.
The Bajur district close to the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — a detailed ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities — earlier than the Pakistani military drove the militants out of the realm. Supporters of hardline Pakistani cleric and political occasion chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam typically helps regional Islamists, had been assembly in Bajur in a corridor near a market outdoors the district capital. Social gathering officers mentioned Rehman was not on the rally however organizers added tents as a result of so many supporters confirmed up, and occasion volunteers with batons had been serving to management the gang.
Officers had been asserting the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a frontrunner of the Jamiat Ulema Islam occasion, when the bomb went off in one in every of Pakistan’s bloodiest assaults lately.
Provincial police mentioned in an announcement that the assault was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest near the stage the place a number of senior leaders of the occasion had been sitting. It mentioned preliminary investigations recommended the Islamic State group — which operates in Afghanistan and is an enemy of the Afghan Taliban — may very well be behind the assault, and officers had been nonetheless investigating.
“There was mud and smoke round, and I used to be beneath some injured folks from the place I may hardly arise, solely to see chaos and a few scattered limbs,” mentioned Adam Khan, 45, who was knocked to the bottom by the blast round 4 p.m. and hit by splinters in his leg and each arms.
The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, mentioned in an announcement despatched to The Related Press that the bombing was aimed toward setting Islamists towards one another. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, mentioned on the social media platform X, previously referred to as Twitter, that “such crimes can’t be justified in any manner.”
The Afghan Taliban’s seizure of energy in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire settlement with the Pakistani authorities in November, and have stepped up assaults throughout the nation.
The bombing got here hours earlier than the arrival of Chinese language Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, the place he was to take part in an occasion to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Financial Hall, or CPEC, a sprawling package deal beneath which Beijing has invested billions of {dollars} in Pakistan.
In latest months, China has helped Pakistan keep away from a default on sovereign funds. Nevertheless, some Chinese language nationals have additionally been focused by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.
Feroz Jamal, the provincial info minister, instructed The Related Press that to this point 44 folks had been “martyred” and almost 200 wounded within the bombing.
The bombing was one of many 4 worst assaults within the northwest since 2014, when 147 folks, principally schoolchildren, had been killed in a Taliban assault on an army-run faculty in Peshawar. In January, 74 folks had been killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. n February, greater than 100 folks, principally policemen, died in a bombing at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing Peshawar police headquarters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the assault and requested officers to offer all potential help to the wounded and the bereaved households. Sharif later, in a telephone name to Rehman, the pinnacle of the JUI, conveyed his condolences to him and warranted him that those that orchestrated the assault could be punished.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad additionally condemned the assault. In a submit on social media platform X, previously referred to as Twitter, it expressed its condolences to the households and family members of the victims killed within the assault..
Maulana Ziaullah, the native chief of Rehman’s occasion, was among the many useless. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin had been additionally on the stage however escaped unharmed.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the occasion, mentioned the assault was an try to take away JUI from the sphere earlier than parliamentary elections in November, however he mentioned such ways wouldn’t work. The bombing drew nationwide condemnation, with the ruling and opposition events extending condolences to the households of those that died within the assault.
Rehman is taken into account to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political occasion is a part of the coalition authorities in Islamabad. Conferences are being organized throughout the nation to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
“Lots of our fellows misplaced their lives and lots of extra wounded on this incident. I’ll ask the federal and provincial administrations to completely examine this incident and supply due compensation and medical amenities to the affected ones,” Rasheed mentioned.
Mohammad Wali, one other attendant on the rally, mentioned he was listening to a speaker tackle the gang when the massive explosion quickly deafened him.
“I used to be close to the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the bottom,” he mentioned. “We got here to the assembly with enthusiasm however ended up on the hospital seeing crying, wounded folks and sobbing kin taking the our bodies of their family members.”
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Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Related Press author Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad.