Overview

• Authorities say a suicide bomber struck a Balochistan National Party rally’s parking area in Quetta, with updated official tallies putting the death toll at 15 and dozens wounded.
• Islamic State announced responsibility via its propaganda arm and released a photo of the alleged attacker, with officials saying about 8 kilograms of explosives were used.
• BNP leader Akhtar Mengal had just left the stage and is safe, while party members were among the casualties at the memorial gathering at Quetta’s Shahwani Stadium.
• In Bannu, officials report a vehicle-borne blast at the Federal Constabulary gate followed by a roughly 12-hour gunfight that left six soldiers and six attackers dead, with police describing the assailants as Islamist militants; a group calling itself Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan issued a claim in some reports.
• Security forces launched clearance operations and inquiries in both cities, with the violence tracking a broader escalation in militant activity since the Pakistani Taliban ended a ceasefire in late 2022; a separate roadside bomb in Balochistan near the Iran border killed five paramilitary personnel.