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

What the report says

A suicide bombing outside a police station in Pakistan’s Swat Valley killed at least 14 people and wounded many others, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting from AFP, Anadolu and AP. The blast hit on Sunday evening in Kabal, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the border with Afghanistan, as people were gathered nearby to protest rising violence in the region.

Police officials said the attacker detonated explosives after personnel tried to stop and search him at the station entrance. Authorities said the explosion tore through the crowd near a nearby intersection while the last speaker was addressing the protest, causing panic and sending residents fleeing. Swat police said at least 22 people were injured, some seriously, and the wounded were taken to a hospital in Saidu Sharif. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched an investigation and search operation.

Pakistan’s interior minister condemned the attack and offered condolences to the victims’ families. The protest itself reflected growing anger over renewed militant activity in Swat, an area that once served as a stronghold for the Pakistan Taliban before a 2009 military operation drove the group out. The latest bombing comes amid a broader surge in violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, has continued its insurgency against the state since 2007.

Recent attacks in the province have intensified concern about security and cross-border tensions with Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government of allowing armed groups to operate from its territory, a charge Kabul denies.