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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 at the very least 44 folks and wounding practically 200 in an assault {that a} senior chief stated was meant to weaken Pakistani Islamists.
The Bajur district close to the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — an in depth ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities — earlier than the Pakistani military drove the militants out of the realm. Supporters of hard-line Pakistani cleric and political occasion chief Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam usually helps regional Islamists, had been assembly in Bajur in a corridor near a market exterior the district capital. Celebration officers stated 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 group.
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 all Pakistan’s bloodiest assaults lately.
Provincial police stated 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 stated preliminary investigations urged the Islamic State group — which operates in Afghanistan and is an enemy of the Afghan Taliban — might be behind the assault, and officers had been nonetheless investigating.
“There was mud and smoke round, and I used to be below some injured folks from the place I may hardly rise up, solely to see chaos and a few scattered limbs,” stated 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, stated in an announcement despatched to The Related Press that the bombing was geared toward setting Islamists in opposition to one another. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, stated on the social media platform X, previously referred to as Twitter, that “such crimes can’t be justified in any means.”
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 bundle below which Beijing has invested billions of {dollars} in Pakistan.
In current 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, informed The Related Press that thus far 44 folks had been “martyred” and practically 200 wounded within the bombing.
The bombing was one of many 4 worst assaults within the northwest since 2014, when 147 folks, largely schoolchildren, had been killed in a Taliban assault on an army-run college in Peshawar. In January, 74 folks had been killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. n February, greater than 100 folks, largely 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 supply 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 put up 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 lifeless. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin had been additionally on the stage however escaped unharmed.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the occasion, stated the assault was an try to take away JUI from the sector earlier than parliamentary elections in November, however he stated such techniques 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 stated.
Mohammad Wali, one other attendant on the rally, stated he was listening to a speaker handle the group 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 stated. “We got here to the assembly with enthusiasm however ended up on the hospital seeing crying, wounded folks and sobbing kinfolk 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.
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