At least 14 killed in suicide attack at police station in northern Pakistan

PESHAWAR – At least 14 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station in north-western Pakistan on Aug 2, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.

The explosion took place in the Kabal area of Swat, a district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A pro-police rally by residents was being held in the same area on Aug 2, but it was not immediately clear whether it was the intended target.

Fida Hussain, a regional police official, said the victims included five police officers and eight civilians. The 14th person was believed to be the suicide bomber, he told Reuters.

At least 18 people were wounded, according to a police statement, which said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone who may have assisted in the attack.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement, expressed “deep grief and sorrow over the suicide blast”.

Militancy in Pakistan’s ​border areas has risen sharply in recent months, targeting mainly the ​military and police.

A military spokesman said on July 31 that militant attacks and ensuing operations killed 819 security personnel and civilians in 2026.

Pakistan has previously blamed the violence in its border provinces on militant activity emanating from Afghanistan. The Taliban government in Kabul denies Afghan involvement.

The accusations have sparked a bitter rift and even armed conflict between the neighbouring countries. Pakistan has carried out deadly air strikes that it says target militants on Afghan soil.

The Taliban government and the UN said dozens of civilians were killed in the latest Pakistani strikes on eastern Afghanistan in June. REUTERS, AFP