Suicide blast at a political rally in Pakistan kills at least 45 people

At least 45 people were killed and more than 150 were injured in a suicide blast at a political rally in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday. Visuals from the scene showed wounded people being rescued and carried to an ambulance from the scene in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, police suspect that it could be the work of the local chapter of the radical Islamist group, Islamic State (IS). The jihadist group accuses JUI-F of hypocrisy for being an Islamic group while supporting hostile governments and the military.

The explosion had taken place at 4 PM at JUI-F worker’s convention at Bajaur’s Khar where almost 400 workers were present. According to the police, the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital. Serious wounded people were being airlifted to the provincial capital, Peshawar, for better medical care, said a government administrator.

Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party, has been killed in the blast. Other leaders like Abdur Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials claimed that party supremo Rehman was not present at the rally. Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the ruling coalition government.

Mohammed Wali, a survivor recalled the tale of the blast saying, “I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded throwing me away to the ground.” “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying wounded people and sobbing relatives taking bodies of their loved ones,” he said.

Pakistan has been facing an increase in insurgency and recurrence of terror attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the government broke down. Recently in January, a mosque bombing in Peshawar city in the northwest killed more than 100 people. While TTP and its associations have been behind the majority of the attacks, they have claimed that they have nothing to do with this attack and its spokesperson has also criticised the attack.