PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber targeted protesters at an anti-militant rally in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 14 people, including police officers, and wounding more than two dozen others, officials said.
The attack occurred in Kabal, a town in Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where demonstrators had gathered near a police station, chanting anti-militant slogans and demanding peace, district police chief
Omar Khan said.
Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial emergency service, said the attacker struck dozens of people who were chanting anti-militant slogans and demanding peace. Police official Omar Khan said at least five officers were among the dead.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, issuing a statement extending condolences to the families of those killed and prayers for the speedy recovery of the wounded.
The Swat Valley was once a stronghold of Islamic militants who imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, before the Pakistani military launched a major operation in 2007 that drove them out and restored government control.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The TTP is separate from, but allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Many of its leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power there in 2021.
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies.
Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant attacks in recent years, particularly targeting police and security forces.
