A deadly blast ripped through northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 14 people outside a police station as authorities confront a surge in militant violence across the country’s border regions.
Rescuers and police said the explosion struck the Kabal area of Swat, a district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A pro-police rally of local residents was being held nearby at the time, though officials said it was not immediately clear whether those gathered were the intended target.
Fida Hussain, a regional police official, said the dead included five police officers and eight civilians. He added that the 14th person was believed to be the suicide bomber.
Locals evacuate an injured victim
At least 18 people were wounded, according to a police statement. It said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone suspected of helping facilitate the attack.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group said in a statement that it carried out the bombing.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement, expressed “deep grief and sorrow over the suicide blast”.
Victims included five police officers and eight civilians
The attack comes amid a marked rise in militancy in Pakistan’s border areas in recent months, with assaults aimed largely at the military and police.
Pakistan’s government has blamed the Afghan Taliban for the worsening violence, accusing it of backing militants. The Taliban government has rejected those allegations.
