Officials in Pakistan told VOA Tuesday the death toll from Sunday’s suicide bombing at a political rally in the northwestern part of the country has risen to 56.
The blast happened during a workers’ convention of a religious political party, Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI-F), in the town of Khar in the tribal area of Bajaur near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.
Mourners began holding funerals Monday for the victims.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a message Monday.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack, his spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Monday.
“The secretary-general denounces all instances of terrorism and deliberate targeted attacks against civilians and stands in solidarity with the government and the people of Pakistan in combating this scourge,” Haq said.
The U.N. Security Council called the bombing “heinous and cowardly” and expressed condolences to the families of the victims and to the Pakistani government.
"The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice,” the council said in a statement.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
