By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: At least 44 people were killed and over 100 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a gathering of a right-wing political party in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, officials said.
The blast took place at Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers’ convention in the town of Khar in Bajaur, near the border with Afghanistan.
Provincial Health Minister Riaz Anwar said 44 people had been confirmed killed and over 100 wounded. “It was a suicide attack, with the bomber detonating himself in close proximity to the stage,” Anwar told reporters.
The blast occurred around 4 p.m. as hundreds of supporters of the party were listening to speeches by its leaders, including Senator Abdur Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin, who escaped unhurt.
Among the dead was Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of the party, which is part of the ruling coalition in Islamabad.
Firoz Shah Jamal, the caretaker information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the death toll and the number of wounded could rise as rescue workers were still searching for survivors.
Hospitals across Bajaur and neighboring areas had been put on high alert and helicopters were being used to transport the critically injured to Peshawar, the provincial capital.
“Our utmost priority right now is to provide medical treatment to the injured. The blast site has been cordoned off. Pakistan Army and other institutions are assisting us in the operation,” Jamal said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Islamist militants that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state since 2007, operates across the border in Afghanistan and has carried out several deadly attacks in Pakistan in recent years.
The TTP, which has links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, has intensified its attacks since the talks with the government broke down in November last year, particularly targeting the police and security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and areas bordering Afghanistan.
A recent UN report said the TTP has intensified its attacks on Pakistani security forces and civilians since it reunited with several splinter groups last year after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
The report said the TTP “derives advantage from its presence in Afghanistan for its operations across the border into Pakistan” and is “focused on high-value targets in border areas and soft targets in urban areas”.
The TTP has “aspired to re-establish control of territory in Pakistan after being emboldened by the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan”, it added.
The group, which is designated as a terrorist entity by the UN, the US and Pakistan, has also benefited from the availability of weapons and military equipment left behind by the US-led coalition that withdrew from Afghanistan last year.
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.
The bombing was one of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan this year and raised fears of a resurgence of militant violence ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for November.
Television footage showed chaotic scenes at the site of the blast, with bloodied people lying on the ground and ambulances rushing to the scene. A large police contingent was deployed to secure the area.
Rahim Shah, a witness who was attending the convention, said he heard a loud bang and then lost consciousness.
“When I woke up, there was blood everywhere. People were screaming and even shots were fired,” he said.
Mohammad Wali, another witness who was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him, said he was near a water dispenser when he was thrown to the ground by the blast.
“We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying wounded people and sobbing relatives taking bodies of their loved ones,” he said.
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.
In a statement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s caretaker chief minister Azam Khan sought a detailed report on the blast from the police and directed authorities to provide the best medical care to the injured.
The governor of the province, Haji Ghulam Ali, also expressed his grief over the incident and said a helicopter had been sent to Bajaur for the transfer of wounded people.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman condemned the attack and demanded an inquiry from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the provincial government.
“Many of our fellows lost lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones,” he said in a statement issued by his party’s media cell.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the coming elections.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also strongly denounced the blast and said terrorists targeted those who advocated the cause of Islam, the Quran and Pakistan.
“Terrorists are enemies of Pakistan and they will be eliminated,” he said in a statement released by his office. He added that those involved in the incident would face severe punishment.
He also sought a report of the incident from Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the provincial government.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), also condemned the blast and extended his condolences to the bereaved families.
“The federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments should bring the patrons of terrorists to justice,” he said in a statement on his party’s media cell. He stressed that terrorists and their planners should be eliminated.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of PPP, said terrorists were everyone’s enemies. “Like Swat, the entire country needs to be cleansed of the nurseries of terrorism,” he stated.
Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed also denounced the blast and expressed his sympathy over the deaths.
“The return of terrorism proves that the government’s security plan/policy has failed and tribal districts of KP are in the middle of this fire,” Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said in a statement. He demanded that a joint in-camera session of parliament should be called to address the issue of rising terrorism.
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