Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, or JUI, is a right-wing political and religious party led by hard-line cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, an ally of the Taliban leadership in neighboring Afghanistan. The party supports electoral politics in Pakistan — and is part of the ruling coalition — but has taken ultraconservative positions on issues such as women’s rights.
As many as 500 people attended the conference Sunday in the Bajaur district, as JUI prepares for the upcoming election, said Ayaz Khan, a party spokesman. Pakistan’s governing coalition agreed to dissolve Parliament next month, which would trigger a general election before the end of the year.
Militant groups and more extremist parties had hoped to gain momentum in the lead-up to that vote, as Pakistan grapples with high inflation, a faltering economy, and tensions between the government and former prime minister Imran Khan. Similar gatherings like the one held in Bajaur on Sunday have been taking place across the country to mobilize supporters and voters.
But the deadly blast was a grim reminder of the recent resurgence of violence across Pakistan, which for years battled militants in its restive border regions.
Terrorist attacks have skyrocketed since peace talks between the government and the Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP — collapsed in November. Earlier this year, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least 95 people, in one of the deadliest attacks ever on Pakistan’s security forces.
Before that, the TTP had largely been cowed by a harsh military crackdown that routed its fighters and quashed its influence. But the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan two years ago gave a boost to the flagging movement, providing TTP leaders with political support and a crucial safe haven.
The TTP pledges allegiance to the Taliban in Afghanistan but remains a separate group. And on Sunday, both the Taliban in Afghanistan and the TTP condemned the suicide bombing.
“Such crimes cannot be justified in any way,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter, which was recently renamed X.
Officials on Sunday said it was unclear who was behind the attack, and no group immediately claimed responsibility. But Bajaur is a former TTP stronghold, and a regional branch of the Islamic State group operates nearby.
Mir Wali, a police spokesman in Bajaur, confirmed to The Washington Post that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber and that more than 40 people had been killed. The party’s local chief, Maulana Ziaullah, was among the dead, according to local media and the Associated Press.
Photos released by Pakistani authorities showed victims with severe wounds being taken to nearby hospitals by helicopter. In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the attack was “abhorrent” and an “act of cowardice,” adding that it was shocking that the attacker “dared to target people gathering to talk about Islam and the prosperity and safety of Pakistan.”
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also denounced the attack.
“We strongly condemn this heinous act of violence, which resulted in the loss of innocent lives and caused harm to many others. Such acts of terror have no place in a peaceful and democratic society,” the embassy said in a statement.
Noack reported from Paris, Hussain from Islamabad and Khan from Peshawar.