The explosion occurred in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a rugged region bordering Afghanistan. Locals had convened for a "jirga," a traditional council of elders, at the residence of Saifur Rahman, the tribal leader.
"A local tribal elder Saifur Rahman was holding a jirga at his guest house when a bomb exploded, killing at least seven people while injuring 21 others," stated Usman Khan, a local police official, in a statement to AFP. Khan added that the precise cause of the blast is currently under investigation.
A senior administration official corroborated the incident and the casualty figures to AFP, noting that Rahman himself was taken to a hospital for treatment.
South Waziristan, one of the seven remote districts bordering Afghanistan, has long been considered a stronghold for militants. The Pakistani military has conducted numerous operations in the area over the years in an effort to quell militancy.
In the past, Islamabad supported the formation of tribal vigilante groups, known as "peace committees," to help defend local communities against militants, including the Pakistani Taliban. However, many of these committees have been dissolved following a significant improvement in security across Pakistan after several military campaigns, the most recent of which concluded in 2014.
Despite these efforts, Pakistan has witnessed a worrying surge in militant activity since the Afghan Taliban's ascent to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad alleges that militants are now using Afghanistan as a safe haven from which to plan and execute attacks.
The previous year marked a grim milestone for Pakistan, recording the highest number of fatalities in nearly a decade due to militant attacks, according to the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies. A vast majority of these attacks were concentrated near the country's western border with Afghanistan, highlighting the ongoing security challenges in the region.
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