Pakistan: Death toll in Bajaur suicide blast rises to 63 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], August 2 (ANI): The death toll in the suicide blast in Bajaur district of Pakistan has surged to 63, the district headquarters hospital said on Wednesday, reported The Express Tribune.

According to a district hospital, 43 bodies were brought to the hospital after the deadly explosion. But as of now, 63 people have died in the suicide blast that happened on Sunday.
Moreover, out of 63, 13 bodies have been handed over to their relatives, said Dr Ali from a district hospital.

However, the hospital administration said that the injured people are being treated in different hospitals in the province, reported The Express Tribune.

Furthermore, the Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for the suicide blast in Pakistan, according to Al Jazeera.

The bombing targeted an election rally in Pakistan’s border district of Bajaur on Sunday in which nearly 200 people were wounded.

“A suicide attacker from the Islamic State [ISIL] … detonated his explosive jacket in the middle of a crowd” in the town of Khar, the armed group’s news arm Amaq said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

A bomber detonated an explosives-packed vest near the platform as some 400 members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, a significant government coalition partner led by hardline politician Fazlur Rehman, awaited the start of the speeches.

Police took testimony from some of the injured on Monday at a hospital in Khar, the biggest town in Bajaur. The provincial minister of information, Feroz Jamal, stated that police were “investigating this attack in all aspects.”

A First Information Report on the blast was filed with the Counter Terrorism Department on Monday as the initial investigation, according to the police, indicated that the terrorist group ISIS was responsible for the suicide attack.

The suicide bomber detonated explosives when JUI-F members and supporters gathered in the town of Khar, near the border with Afghanistan. The convention started at 2 pm, and the explosion happened at 4:10 pm, according to the official.

Pakistan, on Tuesday, urged the Taliban to take measures against the use of Afghan soil by terrorists, according to Dawn.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during a visit to Peshawar, expressed concern over the “involvement of Afghan citizens in suicide blasts and the liberty of action available to elements hostile to Pakistan in planning and executing such cowardly attacks on innocent civilians from the sanctuaries across the border”, as per Dawn.