▲ People carry the coffin of a victim killed in a suicide bombing in the Swat district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
At least 14 people were killed in a bomb attack targeting an anti-militant rally in northwestern Pakistan, where militant attacks and clashes persist.
According to local police on August 3, a suicide bombing took place at around 6:00 p.m. the previous day in the Swat district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least 14 police officers and civilians and injuring around 20 others.
Local police authorities stated that the attack occurred near a police station in the village of Kabal as a rally protesting against militants and calling for peace was coming to an end.
About 1,000 rally participants condemned the violence and terrorism that have devastated the region and criticized authorities for failing to take decisive action to eradicate militant groups.
Police, who sealed off the scene immediately after the attack, recovered body parts believed to belong to the suicide bomber and launched a search to find and arrest accomplices who aided the crime.
In connection with the incident, the militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.
The TTP aims to overthrow the Pakistani government and establish a state based on Islamic law, or Sharia.
Although they are a separate organization from the Afghan Taliban, they share similar ideologies and have maintained a long-standing cooperative relationship, reportedly carrying out various terrorist activities by moving back and forth between Pakistan while maintaining major hideouts in Afghanistan.
Following the terror attack, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued separate statements condemning the bombing and expressing deep condolences over the casualties.
They also instructed authorities to ensure the injured receive the best possible medical treatment and added that the "war on terror" will continue until terrorism is rooted out.
The Swat region, located near the Afghan border, has long suffered from frequent attacks by militant groups such as the TTP.
Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, narrowly survived after being shot three times by the Taliban in 2012 in her hometown of Swat.
Since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in 2021, terror attacks and clashes have continued unabated in Pakistan, centered around provinces bordering Afghanistan such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan.
On July 29, militants also attacked a police checkpoint in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in a firefight that left 11 police officers dead and 15 militant members killed.
According to Pakistani military figures, a total of 819 people—including about 500 members of the military and police and about 300 civilians—have been killed in some 3,100 terror incidents in Pakistan so far this year, including 28 suicide bombings.
The data also showed that approximately 63% of these terror incidents occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and 37% in Balochistan province.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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