A blast in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed more than 40 people, according to authorities.
The explosion occurred in Khar, a town in the tribal area of Bajaur, located near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. It happened Sunday afternoon during a workers convention of a religious political party, Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI).
A video of the meeting captures the moment of the blast. People can be seen sitting under a large tent, listening to a speaker when an explosion occurs.
In a phone call with VOA, district health official Dr. Faisal Kamal confirmed at least 43 deaths and put the number of injured at around 80. He said it’s possible the number of injured could be larger as patients may be receiving treatment in other places.
Earlier, other sources put the number of injured at close to 150.
District Police Officer Nazeer Khan told VOA that evidence collected so far points to the blast being the work of a suicide bomber.
In a tweet, Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said an inquiry into the incident has been ordered.
Pakistan has seen a surge in terror attacks since the Afghan Taliban took control in Kabul in August 2021. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, a militant outfit ideologically associated with the Afghan Taliban, has been behind most of those attacks. However, the group denied responsibility for this incident.
In a statement to the media, the central leadership of the TTP, also known as Pakistani Taliban, condemned the attack.
First responders move a wounded man into an ambulance after a bomb explosion in the Bajur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, July 30, 2023. (Rescue 1122 Headquarters via AP)
The Afghan Taliban, whom Pakistan accuses of harboring TTP leadership, were also swift to issue a condemnation.
“Such criminal acts are not acceptable and cannot be justified,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the central spokesperson of the Afghan Taliban, said on Twitter.
The de-facto Afghan rulers deny providing a safe haven for anti-Pakistan terrorists.
The incident occurred as Pakistan welcomed the vice premier of the People’s Republic of China, He Lifeng, in the capital Islamabad. The Chinese official is on a three-day visit to celebrate 10 years of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC, Beijing’s multibillion-dollar investment project under its global Belt and Road Initiative.
The main government hospital in Bajaur is under pressure after the catastrophe.
“Because of the large number of people, we are having trouble managing the situation. There is also [a] heavy security presence,” Kamal told VOA.
After the blast, a health emergency was declared across the province as the death toll was expected to rise given the large number of injured.
At least 16 critically wounded victims were transported via military helicopters to the provincial capital Peshawar for treatment.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been the target of violence for almost two decades. Militant build-up during the U.S.-lead war in Afghanistan, and Pakistani military operations to flush out terrorists displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the 2010s.
After a few years of relative calm, terrorism returned to the area when the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul almost two years ago. The security situation in KP has worsened since peace talks between the Pakistani state and the TTP collapsed last November.
Source: Voice of America