Lahore: The toll in Sunday’s blast at a political convention of an Islamist party in Pa has gone up to Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with the number of wounded people under treatment over 100.
Police said on Monday that an initial probe suggested that the banned terrorist group Islamic State (IS) was behind the suicide attack in Bajaur, reported PTI.
“We are still investigating and gathering information on the Bajaur blast. The initial probe shows that banned outfit Daesh (IS) was involved,” Geo News quoted police officials as saying.
Details of the suicide bomber are being gathered, while a bomb disposal squad team is collecting evidence from the site.
According to provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan, 10 kg of explosives was set off by the suicide bomber to cause the blast inside a tent where more than 400 members of Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party had assembled for a meeting.
The bomber was among the attendees and was seated in the front rows.
According to local police, the attacker detonated explosives near the convention’s stage.
The blast reportedly occurred as soon as JUI-F District Amir Maulana Abdul Rasheed reached the stage.
Watch the moment the blast took place in video clip posted by Arab News Pakistan:
#WATCH: A suicide blast targeting a political rally in northwestern Pakistan claims at least 43 lives, wounding 80 people, police and health officials tell Arab News.
–https://t.co/GpWTNiVgLh pic.twitter.com/tCoojXm3DH— Arab News Pakistan (@arabnewspk) July 30, 2023
Condemning the attack, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that those responsible would be identified and punished.
“The Pakistani nation, law enforcement agencies and our protectors will never allow such cowardly tactics of the enemy to succeed. We are equal participants in your grief. The criminals will be truly punished and bringing an end to terrorism is the commitment of the entire nation,” Sharif tweeted.
He ordered a high-level investigation into the incident and instructed local authorities to transfer critically injured persons to other hospitals via helicopter.
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