Pakistan Blast Kills 17 Near Police Station

PHOTO CAPTION: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zulfiqar Hameed visits a boy who was among those injured in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station, at a hospital in Swat district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, August 3, 2026. REUTERS/Hazrat Ali Bacha

PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Aug. 3 — At least 17 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a rescue organization and a regional police official said.

The explosion occurred in the Kabal area of Swat district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Local residents were holding a pro-police rally in the same area, but it was not immediately clear whether the gathering was the intended target.

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

At least 34 people were wounded, according to a spokesperson for the Rescue 1122 emergency service.

The spokesperson said the death toll increased from 14 to 17 after three victims died in a hospital.

Officials said the dead included seven police officers and 10 civilians.

Fida Hussain, a regional police official, told Reuters that one of those killed was believed to be the suicide bomber.

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

Police said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone who may have assisted in carrying out the attack.

Militant violence has risen sharply in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, with attacks primarily targeting the military and police.

Pakistan’s government has blamed Afghanistan’s Taliban government for the escalation, accusing it of supporting the militants.

The Taliban government has denied those accusations.

(Source: Reuters)