At least 44 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide bombing Sunday in northwestern Pakistan during a rally of a radical Islamic party.
The attack targeted the conservative religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), of which more than 400 members and supporters were gathered under a tent in the town of Khar, near the border with Afghanistan.
“As we waited for the arrival of the main leaders, suddenly there was a big bang,” said Sabeeh Ullah, a 24-year-old supporter whose arm was fractured in the blast.
“I found myself lying next to someone who had lost their limbs. The air was filled with the smell of flesh,” he told AFP by telephone.
As the toll continues to rise, Riaz Anwar, representative of the Ministry of Health for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP that at least 44 people had been killed and more than a hundred injured.
“It was a suicide attack, the attacker blew himself up very close to the scene,” he added.
Footage of the blast circulating on social media shows bodies strewn through the crowd and volunteers helping the bloodied victims into ambulances.
Pakistan’s government is due to be dissolved in the coming weeks ahead of elections scheduled for October or November, and political parties are gearing up to campaign.
This attack coincides with the visit of a delegation of Chinese officials, including Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng, who arrived in the Pakistani capital on Sunday evening to mark the 10th anniversary of a gigantic economic plan, the cornerstone of the “new roads of the silk”.
For security specialist Imtiaz Gul, the attack “is part of the terrorist violence which seems to be increasing in Pakistan in the run-up to the elections in order to create a climate of instability which could lead to the delay of the elections”. .
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on Twitter, renamed X, offering his condolences to the victims and promising to punish the culprits.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the local branch of the Islamic State (IS) group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks against JUI-F.
Last year, IS said it was behind violent attacks on religious scholars affiliated with the party, which has an extensive network of mosques and madrasas (Quranic schools) in the north and west from the country.
The jihadist group accuses the JUI-F of hypocrisy, the religious party having supported successive governments and the army.
JUI-F leader Fazlur Rehman, a former hardline Islamist and anti-American calling for the application of Sharia law, has in recent years tried to change his image by being more moderate.
Despite its party’s ability to mobilize tens of thousands of madrasa students, the JUI-F has never mustered enough support to lead alone, but it is usually a key ally in forming any coalition.
Attacks in Pakistan have increased since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and then the end of the ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani government in late November.
In January, a man, linked to the TTP according to the authorities, detonated the bomb he was carrying in a mosque inside a police base in Peshawar (northeast), killing more than 80 policemen.
The attacks take place mainly in the regions bordering Afghanistan. Islamabad believes that some of them are planned from Afghan soil, which Kabul denies.
Analysts say militants in the former tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have grown bolder since the return of the Afghan Taliban.
Bajaur, where the explosion took place, is one of seven isolated districts bordering Afghanistan. The region has been a hotspot in the global war on terrorism.
Pakistan was once plagued by near-daily bomb attacks, but a massive military operation launched in 2014 has largely restored order.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned Sunday’s attack in a statement.
07/31/2023 00:38:18 – Peshawar (Pakistan) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
