ISIS claims deadly attack on Pakistan rally that killed 15

ISIS claimed responsibility Wednesday for a suicide bombing that authorities said killed 15 people and wounded dozens more at a political rally in southwestern Pakistan.

The claim for Tuesday’s attack in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, was made through the group’s propaganda arm.

Balochistan interior minister Hamza Shafqat gave an updated death toll of 15.

Dozens were also wounded in the attack by a suicide bomber with eight kilograms (17.5 pounds) of explosives in a stadium parking lot in Quetta, where hundreds of members of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) had gathered, Shafqat said.

Balochistan, a turbulent province on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, is regularly the scene of violence, often carried out by extremists from the regional branch of the ISIS, IS-Khorasan, or by IS-Pakistan or Baloch separatists.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and most resource-rich province, but also its poorest, and regularly ranks among the lowest on human development indicator scorecards.

Baloch separatists claim to be fighting to end discrimination against the Baloch people on their land. Pakistani forces have been battling an insurgency in the province for more than a decade, and in 2024 the region saw a sharp rise in violence, with 782 people killed.

While ISIS extremists consider political parties and state institutions to be heretical, they rarely attack Baloch activists.

But on Tuesday evening in the Quetta stadium parking lot as BNP rally participants were dispersing, a suicide bomber detonated explosives.

IS published a photo of the alleged attacker, his face hidden by a scarf.

BNP leader Akhtar Mengal, who at the time of the attack was leaving the rally after delivering a speech, posted on X that he was “safe, but deeply heartbroken at the loss of our workers.”