By ANWARULLAH KHAN and RIAZ KHAN (Associated Press)
KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in a former stronghold of militants in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing a minimum of 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 world. 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. Party 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.
Officials had been asserting the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a pacesetter of the Jamiat Ulema Islam occasion, when the bomb went off in certainly one of Pakistan’s bloodiest assaults lately.
Provincial police mentioned in a press release 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 — could possibly be behind the assault, and officers had been nonetheless investigating.
“There was dust and smoke around, and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some 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 fingers.
The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, mentioned in a press release despatched to The Associated Press that the bombing was geared toward setting Islamists towards one another. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, mentioned on the social media platform X, previously often called Twitter, that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”
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 Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, the place he was to take part in an occasion to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a sprawling package deal below which Beijing has invested billions of {dollars} in Pakistan.
In latest months, China has helped Pakistan keep away from a default on sovereign funds. However, some Chinese nationals have additionally been focused by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.
Feroz Jamal, the provincial info minister, informed The Associated Press that to date 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, largely 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, 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 doable help to the wounded and the bereaved households. Sharif later, in a cellphone name to Rehman, the top of the JUI, conveyed his condolences to him and guaranteed him that those that orchestrated the assault could be punished.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad additionally condemned the assault. In a publish on social media platform X, previously often called 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, mentioned the assault was an try and take away JUI from the sector 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. Meetings are being organized throughout the nation to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
“Many of our fellows lost their 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,” Rasheed mentioned.
Mohammad Wali, one other attendant on the rally, mentioned he was listening to a speaker deal with the gang when the large explosion briefly deafened him.
“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground,” he mentioned. “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones.”
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Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press author Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”