DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest among guests at a wedding ceremony in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding 25 others, police said.
The attack took place at the home of Noor Alam Mehsud, a pro-government community leader in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said local police chief Adnan Khan. He said officers transported the dead and injured to a hospital, where some of the wounded were listed in critical condition.
Witnesses said guests, were attending the ceremony, with some dancing to the beat of drums, when the bomber struck.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and which has carried out numerous attacks in the country in recent years. The group is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban.
TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban retuned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021 when U.S. and NATO troops left the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover there.
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