Toll in Pakistan suicide bombing rises to 45

By Saud Mehsud

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – The death toll in a suicide bombing of a political rally by a religious group allied to Pakistan’s government rose to 45 on Monday, compounding security concerns in the runup to a general election in November.

The bomber attacked Sunday’s gathering of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, which is known for its links to hardline Islamists but which condemns militants seeking to overthrow the Pakistani government.

Metal chairs and tables were strewn in piles at the scene of the explosion in the Bajaur district in the northwest, near the border with Afghanistan. No one has claimed responsibility. Police said the Islamic State group was suspected.

An official at a state-run rescue agency, Bilal Faizi, said the death toll had risen to 45. Of more than 130 wounded people, 61 were under treatment, said government health adviser Riaz Anwar.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced Sunday’s blast as an attack on the democratic process. Prospects for the general election have already been clouded by months of rivalry between main parties and accusations of military involvement in civilian politics, which the military denies.

“A justification for postponing the election can strengthen if a series of such attacks continue to happen,” Pakistan’s former counter-terrorism chief Khawaja Khalid Farooq told Reuters. “Such targeted attacks may affect the performance and electioneering campaign of affected political parties.”

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of 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.

A mosque bombing claimed by a TTP splinter group in Peshawar killed more than 100 people in January. Nevertheless, Sunday’s attack was the deadliest to target a political rally since an election campaign in 2018.

While the TTP and associated groups have been behind most of the attacks in recent months, the group distanced itself from Sunday’s attack, with a spokesman condemning it.

The JUI and its chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman have been attacked in the past over their opposition to Pakistani Islamist militants, whose armed campaign against the state they say does not constitute a legitimate Jihad – a fight against opponents of Islam. The party nevertheless supports the Taliban movement in neighbouring Afghanistan.

(Writing and additional reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Robert Birsel and Peter Graff)

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