DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan—A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a political gathering in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region on Sunday, killing at least 42 people and injuring more than 130, police and rescue authorities said.
The explosion occurred at a rally of the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, which is notorious for its ties to radical political Islam, in the former tribal district of Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan.
According to district police official Nazir Khan, an emergency has been declared at the hospitals of Bajaur and surrounding regions, where the majority of the injured have been transported. Military helicopters carried the seriously injured from Bajaur to hospitals in the provincial capital of Peshawar.
According to a statement from Rescue 1122, a first-responder organization, the fatality toll is 42.
According to Khan, the explosion at a JUI-F workers convention in Khar town of Bajaur injured more than 130 people, many of whom were critically injured.
According to Akhtar Hayat, the provincial police head, the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.
Since last year, when a truce between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist organization and Islamabad fell apart, Pakistan has experienced a revival of assaults by Islamist militants. Earlier this year, a mosque blast in Peshawar killed over 100 people.
While the TTP and its affiliated organizations have been responsible for the majority of recent strikes in Pakistan, the group distanced itself from Sunday's incident, which its spokesperson denounced.
The TTP swears loyalty to, but is not directly affiliated with, the Taliban terrorist organization in Afghanistan's western border. Pakistani security authorities claim the TTP has safe havens in Afghanistan, which the Taliban rejects.
In an official statement, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denounced the blast.
The TTP are not the only terrorist organization that has carried out assaults in the area, which has also been targeted by a local chapter of the ISIS terrorist organization.
The targeted party, the JUI-F, is a key supporter of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's coalition government, which is preparing for national elections in November.
Sharif condemned the bombing, calling it an attack on Pakistan's democratic process. He swore that anyone guilty will be held accountable.
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, as well as former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, criticized the surge in posts on the messaging app X, formerly known as Twitter.
