A suicide bomber killed 14 people and injured dozens more in an attack targeting anti-militancy demonstrators in the city of Kabal in Pakistan‘s northwestern Swat Valley.
Five police officers were among those killed at the event, which was staged outside a local police station to protest growing militant violence in the region and the state’s inability to protect citizens.
Those gathered accused authorities of failing to act decisively against militants, saying residents want to live without fear after years of devastating violence.
The area was the home of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot there by a Taliban gunman in 2012.
Hundreds of people were at the rally and social media video footage showed a speaker mid-sentence when an explosion rocked the area and sparked panic among demonstrators.
“The suicide bomber blew himself up when asked for a search in front of the police station,” a local police official said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the crime.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both condemned the attack.
“Terrorists,” said Zardari, “will never succeed in their nefarious efforts to harm peace, national unity and the writ of the state.”
Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant attacks of late, with many targeting police and security forces.
The Swat Valley was a Taliban stronghold between 2007 and 2009, when Pakistan’s military drove the Islamists out and re-established government control over the area.
The religious militants have recently resurfaced, however, with the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, being particularly active.
The TTP is separate from, but allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and has been a source of tension between the neighboring countries.
Pakistan says the TTP and other militant groups are carrying out attacks in the country with the support of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and has promised to continue targeting the TTP and its support network.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
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