26 dead, 50 injured in Pakistan suicide blast

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least 26 people were killed and more than 50 were injured after a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden motorbike into a government building in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said.

The bomber struck a government registration office in Mardan district, some 150 kilometers from Islamabad, where many people were standing in line to get their national identification cards, the city’s police chief Faisal Shahzad told reporters.

“The bomber wanted to enter the premises of the building but he had to ram his bike into the gate after the security guards intercepted him,” Shahzad said, adding that the deceased included security guards who tried to stop the bomber.

TV footage showed dead bodies, blood-soaked caps, shoes, glasses, and other belongings scattered around the site. Several nearby buildings were also destroyed.

Jamat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a consortium of different insurgent groups operating in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the group, said the attack came in response to the execution of four Taliban members earlier Tuesday for their involvement in the Peshawar school carnage in December 2014.

Meanwhile the TTP has condemned the attack, with spokesman Mohammad Khurrasani saying his group does not support attacks against the public.