At least seven people were killed and around 25 others injured in a suicide bombing at a wedding ceremony in northwestern Pakistan, police said.
The attack occurred on Friday at the home of Noor Alam Mehsud, a pro-government community leader, in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border. Police said the assailant detonated explosives during the ceremony. Several of the injured remain in critical condition.
Local police chief Muhammad Adnan said victims were rushed to nearby hospitals. Three people died at the scene, while four others later succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll to seven by Saturday.
Police said the building targeted during the attack was hosting members of a local peace committee—groups of residents and elders backed by the government to counter militant influence in border regions.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing. However, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out numerous attacks in recent years and has previously branded peace committee members as traitors.
The TTP is an umbrella organisation of Sunni militant groups that has waged an insurgency against the Pakistani state since the late 1990s, seeking to impose its interpretation of Islamic law.
Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP fighters to operate from Afghan territory since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces. Afghan authorities have denied the allegation, saying militancy in Pakistan is an internal issue.
The attack comes amid a renewed surge in militant violence in Pakistan’s northwestern regions.
Source: UNB/AP