A suicide bomber attacked an anti-militant rally in Kabal, a town in the Swat Valley region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on Sunday, August 2nd, 2026. The blast killed at least 14 people, including five police officers, and wounded more than two dozen others.

The demonstrators had gathered near a police station, chanting slogans against militants and calling for peace, according to district police chief Omar Khan. Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service, confirmed the attacker struck dozens of people at the rally.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, expressing condolences to the families of the victims and prayers for the injured.

The Swat Valley was previously a stronghold of Islamic militants who enforced a strict interpretation of sharia law before being driven out by a major Pakistani military operation in 2007. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The TTP is distinct from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, and many of its leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban regained power there in 2021.

Sources