Pakistan explosion: At least 40 dead in blast at political rally in northwest province
At least 40 people have been killed in an explosion at a political rally in northwestern Pakistan.
The blast happened on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police said.
More than 130 people were also injured when the bomb went off at a rally organised by supporters of hardline cleric and political party leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Some of those seriously wounded were airlifted to a hospital in the provincial capital, Peshawar.
Pictures from the scene also showed people being put into ambulances and the blast area being cordoned off, with emergencies declared at local hospitals.
More than 100 people have been injured. Pic: Rescue 1122 Head Quarters via AP
Local party official among dead
Police initially said 10 people had died, before increasing the number to at least 35.
One of the dead is the local leader of Mr Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, Maulana Ziaullah.
Mr Rehman himself was not in attendance at the rally, officials said.
His party is part of Pakistan‘s coalition government and he also leads the Pakistan Democratic Movement, which united opposition parties against the then prime minister Imran Khan.
The group formed in September 2020 in a bid to oust Mr Khan, succeeding via a no-confidence vote last year.
‘Dust and smoke all around’
Among the injured was 45-year-old Adam Khan, who was hit by splinters in his leg and hands.
“There was dust and smoke around,” he said, describing a scene of “chaos”.
Mohammad Wali said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the blast happened.
“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground,” he said.
“We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying wounded people.”
Area known for militant attacks
Sunday afternoon’s event came as parties prepare for upcoming elections.
Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi have condemned the attack.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility, but Islamic State operates just across the border in Afghanistan.
Mr Rehman is considered pro-Taliban, the group which has governed Afghanistan since summer 2021.
A Taliban spokesman offered condolences to relatives of the dead and prayed for a “speedy recovery of the injured”.
Bajur was a safe haven for Islamic militants until recent years, when Pakistan’s military carried out operations to eliminate the threat.
But there are still occasional attacks, targeting security forces and civilians alike.
Six Israeli hostages have been handed over by Hamas on Saturday, while hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are due to be released.
The Gaza ceasefire deal continues to hold, despite tensions rising this week when Hamas initially handed over the body of an unidentified Palestinian woman instead of Israeli mother-of-two Shiri Bibas.
The release of hostages and prisoners on Saturday is the last one scheduled in the ceasefire’s first phase.
Five of the Israeli hostages were handed over in public displays, with the captives ushered out of cars by balaclava-clad men holding rifles. The remaining hostage was released to the Red Cross in private.
Of the hostages released today, two had been in captivity for a decade.
Israel is expected to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners later on Saturday, including a man who has been detained for more than 40 years. However, Hamas claimed the release had been delayed as the detainees had been “assaulted”.
Follow latest: Delay to prisoner release due to ‘assaults’ – Hamas
The first of six hostages to be released
Who are the freed Israeli hostages?
The first two hostages released on Saturday were Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu.
Mr Shoham, 40, was visiting his wife’s family in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants stormed into the community during the October 7 attacks in 2023.
His wife, two young children and three other relatives were also abducted, but they were freed in an exchange in November 2023.
Abra Mengistu hugs his family in Israel after his release. Pic: IDF
Mr Mengistu, a 39-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, had been held in Gaza since he entered the territory on his own in 2014.
Watching the moment he was freed on TV, his family broke out in song as he walked free for the first time in more than a decade.
Later on Saturday, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert were handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
Mr Shem Tov, 22, was taken during the October 7 attacks on the Nova music festival.
The computer programmer had shared his live location with his family, who eventually noticed he was headed towards Gaza and contact with him was lost.
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Hostage reunited with parents
Mr Cohen, 27, was also taken from the Nova festival, alongside his fiancee.
Released hostages have said that he was kept in chains and deprived of food and sunlight during his time in captivity, according to reports.
Mr Wenkert, 23, was taken from Nova. He suffers from colitis and requires special medical care, it has been reported.
Finally, Hisham al Sayed, 28, was handed over in a private ceremony.
The Bedouin-Israeli, from the village of Hura in the Negev desert, has been a captive since he crossed into Gaza in 2015.
Nael Barghouti pictured in 2011. Pic: Reuters
Who are the Palestinian prisoners due to be released?
More than 600 Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released on Saturday.
According to the prisons office, which is run by Hamas, this includes 50 who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, 60 described as having “high” sentences, 47 prisoners from the “Wafa al Ahrar” 2011 prisoner exchange deal who had since been re-arrested, and 445 who were arrested after 7 October attacks.
The “Wafa al-Ahrar” deal was the 2011 prisoner exchange agreement that saw the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners.
Read more:
Body of Shiri Bibas returned, family confirms
Fragile Gaza ceasefire stumbles from one hurdle to next
Among the most high-profile Palestinians to be released is Nael Barghouti – the longest-serving prisoner, who has been inside for 43 years.
Also on the list are several journalists, many of whom covered events at al Shifa hospital, and Yousef al Mansi, a Palestinian minister in Gaza.
It had been expected that Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, would be among those being released on Saturday.
However it later emerged that he was not on the list of those being freed.
The man arrested for stabbing a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial is a 19-year-old Syrian refugee, according to prosecutors.
They said it appeared he’d been planning to kill Jewish people for several weeks and was apparently motivated by the Middle East conflict.
The attack happened about 6pm on Friday and he was arrested nearby about three hours later.
His hands and trousers were smeared with blood and the suspected weapon was in his backpack. He was also carrying a Koran and a prayer rug, prosecutors added.
Police cordoned off the Holocaust memorial after the attack. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
The suspect is said to have arrived in Germany as an unaccompanied minor in 2023, had no criminal record and was unknown to police.
The 30-year-old Spanish man who was stabbed needed emergency surgery after being wounded in the head and neck.
Prosecutors said he was in an induced coma but his life was no longer at risk.
The stabbing comes a day before Germany’s national election in which the far-right and anti-immigration AfD is expected to come second.
Campaigning has been overshadowed by a number of attacks by migrants – which appear to have bolstered the party’s support.
Protesters have marched against the AfD but it’s predicted to do well. Pic: Reuters
A woman and her two-year-old daughter died when a car drove into a crowd in Munich this month. A 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was arrested.
Another Afghan national was arrested over the stabbing deaths of a toddler and a 41-year-old man in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last month.
In December, a Saudi man, who had lived in Germany for years, killed six people when he drove his car into people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about Germany’s elections
German elections are usually dull – but this is different
More than one million migrants arrived in the country from 2015-2016, mostly from Syria, but also from Afghanistan and Iraq, many of them fleeing war and political instability.
Prosecutors said they had no evidence the suspect in the Berlin stabbing is linked to any of the other attacks, or to any extremist organisations.
He was scheduled to appear before an investigating judge on Saturday.
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