Suicide bomb blast kills more than 20 in northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A suicide bomb blast at a funeral in northwest Pakistan killed at least 20 people Tuesday, including a newly elected provincial lawmaker, authorities said.

[Updated, 7:56 a.m. PDT June 18: Authorities later revised the casualty toll upward, saying 27 people died and 57 others were injured.]

Police said they were looking into whether the target may have been Imran Mohmand, the independent candidate in the May 11 parliament and provincial assembly elections who was killed in the blast. He was among those attending the funeral for a man who had been shot and killed on Monday.

The attack occurred in Mardan, a small, largely Pashtun city located about 85 miles from Islamabad, the capital.

Officials said the bomber was able to approach the crowd despite the presence of several police officers providing security at the funeral. Some of those officers were among the casualties, said Jafar Khan, a senior Mardan police official.

“Police here are already on high alert,” said Shaukat Yousafzai, information minister for the northwest province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where Mardan is located. “But stopping suicide attacks is very difficult, and we’re doing what we can to bring peace to the province. We don’t want any more bloodshed.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. It comes just three days after militants in the southern city of Quetta stormed a hospital and bombed a women’s university bus, killing 25 people.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian militant group allied with the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for that attack. Fourteen female students aboard the bus were among those killed.

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Nasir Khan is a special correspondent in Islamabad. Staff writer Alex Rodriguez contributed to this report.