Bajaur (Pakistan): The death toll from a suicide bombing that targeted an election rally in the border district of Bajaur, Pakistan, has risen to 54 as funerals are held and the government promises to hunt down those behind the attack. Nearly 200 people were wounded in Sunday’s bombing, which the ISIL (ISIS) armed group claimed responsibility for on Monday.
“A suicide attacker from the Islamic State [ISIL] … detonated his explosive jacket in the middle of a crowd” in the town of Khar, the armed group’s news arm Amaq said in a statement.
About 400 members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, a key government coalition partner headed by hardline politician Fazlur Rehman, were waiting for speeches to begin when a bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives near the stage.
Rehman did not attend the rally, held under a large tent close to a market. The Pakistani leader has escaped at least two known bombings in 2011 and 2014 during political rallies.
As condolences poured in from across the country, dozens of people who received minor injuries were discharged from hospital while the critically wounded were taken to the provincial capital, Peshawar, by army helicopters. The death toll continued to rise as critically wounded people died in hospital, Dr Gul Naseeb said.
On Monday, police recorded statements from some of the wounded at a hospital in Khar, Bajaur’s largest town. Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, said police were “investigating this attack in all aspects”.
The death toll rose to at least 54 on Monday as about 90 injured people were still being treated at hospitals in the northeastern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, rescue official Bilal Faizi said.
Local police chief Nazir Khan said at least three suspects were arrested overnight and intelligence and law enforcement agencies were interrogating them. Bajaur had been a hotbed of attacks and was once controlled by the Taliban, according to Nizam Salarzai, executive director of The Khorasan Diary, a local media outlet. Since then, he said, the security situation has gotten significantly better.