<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">At least 44 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded Sunday by a suicide bombing at a political gathering of a leading Islamic party in northwest Pakistan, officials said.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The blast targeted the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) party -- a government coalition partner led by an influential firebrand cleric -- as hundreds of supporters congregated under a canopy in the town of Khar, near the Afghan border.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The tent had collapsed on one side, trapping people who were desperately attempting to escape," said Abdullah Khan, who tried to help the victims.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There was utter confusion, with human flesh, limbs, and body parts scattered throughout the area, alongside lifeless bodies."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sabeeh Ullah, a 24-year-old party supporter who had his arm fractured by the blast, said the scale of injuries was horrifying.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I found myself lying next to someone who had lost their limbs. The air was filled with the smell of human flesh," he told AFP by phone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As the toll kept rising, Riaz Anwar -- the health minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province -- told AFP late Sunday 44 people had been confirmed killed and over 100 wounded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It was a suicide attack, with the bomber detonating himself in close proximity to the stage," he told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistani media said there were some 400 people in the tent at the time of the explosion, and that multiple emergency crews were working the scene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Images from the blast site circulating on social media showed bodies strewn around, and volunteers helping blood-soaked victims to ambulances.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan's national assembly is due to dissolve in the next few weeks ahead of elections expected in October or November, and political parties are already preparing to campaign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The blast coincides with a visit to the country by a senior delegation of Chinese officials, including Vice Premier He Lifeng, who arrived in the capital Sunday evening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blast Sunday on social media, offering condolences to the victims and vowing to punish those responsible.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Local Islamic State active -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the local chapter of the Islamic State (IS) group has recently carried out attacks against JUI-F.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last year, IS said it was behind violent attacks against religious scholars affiliated with the party, which has a huge network of mosques and madrassas in the north and west of the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The jihadist group accuses JUI-F of hypocrisy for being an Islamic group while supporting hostile governments and the military.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The party's leader, cleric Fazlur Rehman, started political life as a firebrand Islamist hardliner but has softened his public image over the years in a bid to forge alliances with secular parties on the left and right.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of madrassa students, his party never musters enough support for power on its own, but is usually a key player in any coalition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks since the Afghan Taliban surged back to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan's home-grown Taliban group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has largely directed its campaign against security officials, including police officers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In January, a suicide bomber linked to Pakistan's Taliban blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 officers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The militant assaults have been focused in regions abutting Afghanistan, and Islamabad alleges some are being planned on Afghan soil -- a charge Kabul denies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan was once plagued by almost daily bombings, but a major military clearance operation in the former tribal areas starting in 2014 largely restored order.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The seven remote districts that border Afghanistan, of which Bajaur is one, were later brought under the control of Pakistani authorities after the passage of legislation in 2018.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Analysts say militants in the former tribal areas have become emboldened since the return of the Afghan Taliban.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One security analyst suggested Sunday's attack was more likely linked to the election rather than having a sectarian motive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is part of terrorism violence that seems to be ramping up in Pakistan ahead of elections to create a sense of instability that could eventually lead to a delay in the elections," said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>