Suicide bomber kills 14 outside police station in Pakistan’s Swat

Al Jazeera:

A suicide bomber has killed at least 14 people and wounded others outside a police station in Pakistan‘s Swat Valley, striking near a crowd that had gathered to protest.

The bombing happened on Sunday evening in Kabal, a town in the valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the border with Afghanistan.

According to Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Umar Khan, the suicide bomber detonated explosives after police personnel attempted to stop and search him at the entrance of the police station.

Swat Deputy Inspector General of Police Fida Hussain said at least 22 people were wounded. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast occurred near hundreds of people who had gathered at a nearby intersection to demand government action against the region’s escalating violence. It tore through the crowd as the final speaker was addressing the gathering, sending panicked residents fleeing the scene.

The demonstrators had gathered specifically to condemn a resurgence of violent attacks in Swat – a valley that became a stronghold of the Pakistan Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), before a 2009 military offensive drove the group out.

Speakers accused authorities of cracking down on peaceful residents while fighters operated openly in the surrounding mountains, circulating videos of their activities on social media.

“We have witnessed years of bloodshed,” one speaker was quoted as saying by Pakistani outlet Dawn. “We do not want another generation of widows and orphans.”