By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility on Monday for a suicide bombing that killed 54 people at a political rally in northwest Pakistan, saying it was part of its war against democracy.
The attack on Sunday targeted a gathering of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a religious-political party allied to the government, in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The IS statement, issued on its Telegram channel, said the bombing was “in the natural context of the ongoing war waged by the Islamic State against ‘democracy’ as a regime hostile to true Islam and in conflict with its divine law.”
The death toll from the blast rose to 54 on Monday, while 83 people were wounded, according to Shaukat Abbas, the additional inspector general of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Abbas told reporters that the suspects “have been almost tracked down in the initial action” and that a forensic report was awaited.
The CTD registered a case against unknown assailants on charges of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder.
Amjad Khan, a senior police official, said investigators had collected evidence from the crime scene and that more than 10 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack.
He said geo-fencing, a technique that uses GPS data to create a virtual perimeter around a location, had been completed at the blast site.
Analysts said Pakistan is grappling with a wave of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of people and raised fears of instability ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for November.
Bajaur is one of seven remote districts that make up Pakistan’s former tribal areas, which were once a hotbed of Islamist militancy and a haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
The region has seen several military operations against the insurgents in recent years, but sporadic attacks still occur.
The Pakistani Taliban condemned the attack, while the Afghan Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said on Twitter that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”
The bombing came hours before the arrival of Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, where he was to participate in an event to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a sprawling package under which Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
