DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) – At least 40 people were killed and more than 130 injured when an explosion ripped through a political rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, police said.
Police said there was still no confirmation on the cause of the blast that took place at a meeting of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, known for its links to hardline political Islam, in the former area. Bajaur tribe.
“The JUI-F organized a workers’ convention in the Bajaur city of Khar, in which 40 people lost their lives and more than 130 were injured,” district police officer Nazir Khan told Reuters.
He said an emergency had been declared in hospitals in Bajaur and adjacent areas where most of the injured were taken.
Pakistan has seen a resurgence in attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire broke down between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad.
However, most of the recent attacks have been against security forces and installations, rather than political gatherings.
The TTP pledges allegiance to the Taliban in Afghanistan’s western neighbor, but is not directly part of them. Pakistani security forces say the TTP has sanctuaries in Afghanistan, which the Taliban-run administration denies.
The Afghan administration condemned the blast in a statement by its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
The TTP is not the only militant group carrying out attacks in the area, which has also been hit by a local chapter of Islamic State.
Reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Pakistan; Nilutpal Timsina; Written by Gibran Peshimam; Edited by Andrew Cawthorne and Christina Fincher
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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