Suicide bombing at Pakistan wedding celebration kills seven and injures 25

A suicide bomber set off an explosive vest during a wedding celebration in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least seven people and injuring 25, police said.

The attack occurred at the home of Noor Alam Mehsud, a pro-government community figure, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Dera Ismail Khan district, close to the border with Afghanistan, local police chief Adnan Khan said. The victims were taken to a hospital, where several of the wounded were reported to be in a critical condition.

Police official Muhammad Adnan said the explosion tore through a building housing members of a peace committee.

Peace committees are made up of local residents and elders and supported by Islamabad as part of its effort to counter Islamist militants in the regions along the Afghan border.

Three people were confirmed dead on Friday and four of the injured died later in hospital, according to police.

Witnesses said some of the guests were dancing to drum music when the attacker struck.

No group immediately has claimed responsibility but suspicion is expected to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has carried out numerous attacks across the country in recent years. The group is allied with, though separate from, the Afghan Taliban.

The proscribed group has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, when US and Nato troops left the country after 20 years of war. Many leaders and fighters of the group have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.