At Least 7 Dead, More Than 2 Dozen Others Injured After Suicide Bomb Explodes at Wedding While Guests Were Dancing

At least seven people are dead and multiple others are injured after a suicide bombing at a wedding in northwestern Pakistan.

The attack occurred during a ceremony in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in the country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Friday, Jan. 23, ABC News, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported, citing local police. The suspect has not been identified by any national media outlets.

Guests were dancing to drum beats when the suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at the ceremony, ABC News reported, citing witnesses.

Three people were confirmed dead following the attack on Friday, but the death toll later rose, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.

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Adnan Khan, a local police chief, said that following the incident, officers transported both the dead and wounded to a hospital, per ABC News. Some of the injured guests were in critical condition, per the outlet.

Four more people later died in the hospital, taking the total number of fatalities to seven as of Saturday, Jan. 24, per Reuters and Al Jazeera.

The wedding was being held at the residence of pro-government community leader Noor Alam Mehsud, according to the outlets. 

The building houses peace committee members, per Reuters and Al Jazeera. The committees are “made up of residents and elders and supported by Islamabad as part of its efforts to counter fighters in the regions along the Afghan border,” the latter outlet reported.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the fatal bombing, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.  

Suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to Al Jazeera and ABC News.

The TTP, which operates on both sides of the Afghan border, has labelled peace committee members as traitors, per Al Jazeera. The group has been responsible for “multiple suicide bombings” and other attacks, according to the United Nations security council.

The Jan. 23 attack also comes as the Pakistani military prepares to fight armed groups along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to Al Jazeera. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes amid preparations, the outlet reported.