Tag: pakistan bomb blast

At least 35 killed in blast at rally of pro-Taliban cleric’s party in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province

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A powerful bomb ripped through a rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader in the country’s  A powerful blast triggered by a suicide bomber killed at least 44 people and injured nearly 100 others on Sunday, July 30, 2023, at a rally of a hardline Islamic party in a restive tribal district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

The explosion took place at 4 p.m. at the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers’ convention in Khar, the capital of Bajaur tribal district.

At least 44 people were killed and nearly 100 injured in the blast, police sources said.

Saad Khan, the district emergency officer in the Bajaur region, said that Maulana Ziaullah Jan, JUI-F’s local leader, was also killed in the blast, one of the worst in recent years.

Rescue workers said they feared the number of casualties would rise.

Television footage showed panic-stricken people gathering at the site following the blast as ambulances arrived to move the injured to hospitals.

Over 500 people were attending the convention when the blast occurred.

DIG police Malakand Range Nasir Mehmud Satti said the initial investigation revealed it was a suicide blast. However, evidence is being collected to determine the nature of the blast.

An official of the Bomb Disposal Unit said the initial investigation report confirmed it was a suicide blast in which 12 kg explosives were used.

The area was sealed and a search operation has been initiated, he said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, which came after a brief lull.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast at the JUI-F convention. He said terrorists targeted those who advocated the cause of Islam, the Holy Quran and Pakistan.

“Terrorists are enemies of Pakistan and they will be eliminated,” he said in a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Elements involved in the incident would be meted out with strict punishment, he said.

He also sought a report of the incident from Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

President Arif Alvi prayed for eternal peace for the departed souls and commiserated with the bereaved families. He also wished speedy recovery for the injured and emphasised the timely provision of medical assistance to them.

Mr. Sanaullah vowed to bring the perpetrators of today’s attack to justice. “The cowardly acts of terrorists cannot dampen our spirits,” he posted on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

The JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman demanded Prime Minister Sharif and the province’s caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan to investigate the incident.

He also urged the party workers to reach the hospital and donate blood.

“JUI workers should remain peaceful and federal and provincial governments should provide the best treatment to the injured,” said Fazl.

Chief Minister Khan condemned the blast and sought a report from the district administration.

Police said that the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital.

The condition of many injured people was stated to be critical.

JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah said he was supposed to attend the convention today but could not because of some personal commitments.

“I strongly condemn the blast and want to give a message to the people behind it that this is not jihad but terrorism,” the JUI-F leader said, adding that it was an attack on humanity and Bajaur.

He demanded that the blast should be probed, recalling that this was not the first that the JUI-F had been targeted.

“This has happened before…our workers have been targeted. We raised our voice over this in the Parliament but no action was taken.” Hamdullah also extended his condolences to grieving families and urged the provincial government to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.

Caretaker Information minister of the province Jamal Feroze Shah said an emergency was declared in hospitals of Peshawar and Dir district.

The US extended its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured in the suicide blast and vowed its support for Pakistan’s efforts in combating terrorism.

“Such acts of terror have no place in a peaceful and democratic society. We stand in solidarity with the people of Pakistan during this difficult time,” the US embassy in Islamabad said in a statement.

“We reiterate our commitment to supporting Pakistan’s efforts in combating terrorism and ensuring the safety and security of its citizens,” it added.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terrorist attacks following the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 and called upon the interim rulers to take decisive actions against terrorists including the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) responsible for cross-border attacks.

Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, has condemned the attack. TTP spokesman Khalid Khurrasani condemned the blast. In November last year, the TTP called off an indefinite ceasefire agreed with the federal government and ordered its militants to carry out attacks on Pakistan’s security forces.

On January 30, a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring more than 200 others.

In February, heavily-armed TTP militants stormed the Karachi Police chief’s office in Pakistan’s most populous city, sparking gunfire that killed three rebels and four others, including two police constables.

The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007.

The outfit, which is believed to be close to Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

The TTP has also orchestrated the heinous Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014, in which over 130 students were killed.

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Morning Digest: May 28, 2023

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New Parliament building inauguration live | PM Modi inaugurates building, installs ‘Sengol‘ near Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (May 28) unveiled the plaque to mark the inauguration of the the much-awaited new Parliament building. The Prime Minister also installed the scared ‘Sengol’ in the Lok Sabha chamber, right next to the Speaker’s chair, after performing puja. Mr. Modi was handed over the historic ‘Sengol’ by Adheenams before its installed in the new Parliament building.

A new House, again in red sandstone

PM Modi will inaugurate the much-awaited new Parliament building today. The four-storey building has been constructed at an estimated cost of ₹970 crore. The building has been designed by Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning and Management, and constructed by Tata Projects Limited.

The new Parliament is to have a seating capacity of 888 for the Lok Sabha, as against 543 in the old Parliament House, and 300 in the Rajya Sabha as compared with 250 earlier.

PM calls upon CMs to work as ‘Team India’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the eighth Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog on Saturday, said the Centre and the States would have to work as “Team India” to realise the objective of a “Viksit Bharat (Developed India)” in 2047, even as several Chief Ministers kept away from the event.

BJP fears caste census will disturb its Hindutva campaign: Bhupesh Baghel 

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Union Ministers highlight Modi-led government’s achievements in past nine years

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U.K.-India ties see thaw with Minister Tariq Ahmad’s visit

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Five years after Supreme Court judgment, only 9 out of 25 High Courts livestream proceedings

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Ahead of monsoon, ICMR confirms infection geography of dengue has grown from eight States in 2001 to across the country

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Justine Triet wins Palme d’Or at Cannes for ‘Anatomy of a Fall’

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At least 19 members of security forces injured in suicide blast in northwest Pakistan

As per an official, at least 19 members of Pakistan’s security forces were critically injured on May 27 when a suicide bomber with an explosive-laden motorcycle targeted their convoy in the restive tribal district in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. The security forces’ convoy were travelling to Asman Manza area of South Waziristan from DI Khan in Khyber Paktunkhwa province.

Russia tells United States: Don’t lecture Moscow on nuclear deployments

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Taiwan reports Chinese aircraft carrier sailed through strait

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 World Cup schedule and venues to be announced during World Test Championship final

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Djokovic eyes history at French Open as Swiatek launches title defence

Novak Djokovic will bid for a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title at a French Open without his old rival Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, while Iga Swiatek attempts to become the first woman to defend the title in 16 years.

Bayern Munich win 11th straight Bundesliga title in dramatic fashion

Bayern Munich spectacularly snatched their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title with a last matchday 2-1 win at Cologne on Saturday courtesy of Jamal Musiala’s 89th minute winner, grabbing the trophy from the hands of rivals Borussia Dortmund.

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Peshawar, the city of flowers, becomes epicentre of violence

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Street vendors wait for customers along a road in old area of Peshawar, Pakistan, on Feb. 1, 2023. Peshawar, a key mountain valley connecting South and Central Asia, was once known as “the city of flowers,” surrounded by orchards of pear, quince, and pomegranate trees. But for the past four decades, it has borne the brunt of rising militancy in the region, fueled by the conflicts in neighboring Afghanistan.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s Peshawar was once known as “the city of flowers,” surrounded by orchards of pear, quince and pomegranate trees. It was a trading city, situated at the gates of a key mountain valley connecting South and Central Asia.

But for the past four decades, it has borne the brunt of rising militancy in the region, fuelled by the conflicts in neighbouring Afghanistan and the geopolitical games of great powers.

Family members of the victims of Monday’s suicide bombing weep as they take part in a march denouncing militant attacks and demanding peace in the country in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Feb. 1, 2023.

Family members of the victims of Monday’s suicide bombing weep as they take part in a march denouncing militant attacks and demanding peace in the country in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Feb. 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AP

On Tuesday, the city with a population of about two million was reeling after one of Pakistan’s most devastating militant attacks in years. A day earlier, a suicide bomber unleashed a blast in a mosque inside the city’s main police compound, killing at least 101 people and wounding at least 225, mostly police.

Analysts say the carnage is the legacy of decades of flawed policies by Pakistan and the United States.

“What you sow, so shall you reap,” said Abdullah Khan, a senior security analyst.

Peshawar was a peaceful place, he said, until the early 1980s when Pakistan’s then-dictator Zia ul Haq decided to become part of Washington’s cold war with Moscow, joining the fight against the 1979 Soviet invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.

Peshawar — less than 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Afghan border — became the centre where the American CIA and Pakistani military helped train, arm and fund the Afghan mujahedeen fighting the Soviets. The city was flooded by weapons and fighters, many of them hard-line Islamic militants, as well as with hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees.

Arab militants were also drawn there by the fight against the Soviets, including the scion of a wealthy Saudi family, Osama bin Laden. It was in Peshawar that bin Laden founded al-Qaida in the late 1980s, joining forces with veteran Egyptian militant Ayman al-Zawahri.

The Soviets finally withdrew in defeat from Afghanistan in 1989. But the legacy of militancy and armed resistance that the U.S. and Pakistan fueled against them remained.

“After the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1980s, Americans abandoned mujahedeen, Americans even abandoned us, and since then we are paying a price for it,” said Mahmood Shah, a former Pakistani army brigadier and a senior security analyst.

Police officers chant slogans as they take part in a peace march organized by a civil society group denouncing militant attacks and demanding peace in the country, in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Feb. 1, 2023.

Police officers chant slogans as they take part in a peace march organized by a civil society group denouncing militant attacks and demanding peace in the country, in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Feb. 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AP

The mujahedeen plunged Afghanistan into civil war in a bloody fight for power. Meanwhile, in Peshawar and another Pakistani city, Quetta, the Afghan Taliban began to organise, with backing from the Pakistani government. Eventually, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, ruling until they were ousted by the 2001 American-led invasion following al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks in the U.S.

During the nearly 20-year U.S. war against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, militant groups blossomed in the tribal regions of Pakistan along the border and around Peshawar. Like the Taliban, they found root among the ethnic Pashtuns who make up a majority in the region and in the city.

Some groups were encouraged by the Pakistani intelligence agencies. But others turned their guns against the government, angered by heavy security crackdowns and by frequent U.S. airstrikes in the border region targeting al-Qaida and other militants.

Chief among the anti-government groups was the Pakistani Taliban, or Tahreek-e Taliban-Pakistani, or TTP. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, it waged a brutal campaign of violence around the country. Peshawar was scene of one of the bloodiest TTP attacks in 2014, on an army-run public school that killed nearly 150 people, most of them schoolboys.

Peshawar’s location has for centuries made it a key juncture between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. One of the oldest cities in Asia, it stands at the entrance to the Khyber Pass, the main route between the two regions. That was a source of its prosperity in trade and put it on the path of armies going both directions, from Moghul emperors to British imperialists.

A heavy military offensive largely put down the TTP for several years and the government and the militants eventually reached an uneasy truce. Peshawar came under heavy security control, with checkpoints dotting the main roads, and a heavy presence of police and paramilitary troops.

TTP attacks, however, have grown once more since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021 amid the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from that country. The Pakistani Taliban are distinct from but allied to the Afghan group, and Pakistani officials regularly accuse the Afghan Taliban of giving the TTP free rein to operate from Afghan territory.

On Wednesday, several police officers joined a peace march organised by the members of civil society groups in Peshawar, denouncing militant attacks and demanding peace in the country. Police said they made some arrest in connection with Monday’s mosque bombing but did not provide details.

Ahead of Monday’s suicide bombing, Peshawar had seen increasing small-scale attacks targeting police. In another spillover from Afghanistan’s conflict, the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group attacked Peshawar’s main Shiite mosque in March 2022, killing more than 60 people.

Mr. Shah, the former officer, warned that more TTP attacks could follow and said that Pakistan needs to engage the Afghan Taliban and pressure them to either evict the TTP or ensure it doesn’t launch attacks from Afghan territory.

“If we are to have peace in Pakistan, we should talk to TTP from the position of strength with help from the Afghan Taliban,” he said. “This is the best and viable solution to avoid more violence.”

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