[Dawn] A bomb attack killed 30 people at a celebration organised by a political party in northwest Pakistan on Monday, with fears the death toll could rise further, police said.The suspected suicide bomber attacked the open-air gathering in Timargarah, the main town in the district of Lower Dir, where Pakistan waged a major offensive against local Taliban insurgents last year.
"Twenty-five people were killed," Qazi Jamil, police chief for the northwestern region of Malakand, told AFP. However, DawnNews reported that at least 30 people were killed in the blast.
"Evidence collected so far indicates it was a suicide attack. We are investigating."
"We are investigating whether it was a suicide attack or a bomb planted in the area. Residents said the blast occurred near the stage," he added.
The Awami National Party (ANP), the secular political party that dominates government in North West Frontier Province organised the meeting to celebrate plans to re-name the province Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The new name honours the Pashtun-majority population in the province and is set to replace a name that dates back to British colonial rule.
"Our party had arranged a thanksgiving day to celebrate the changing of the name after 200 years of colonial legacy," an ANP spokesman told Geo television.
"People are saying it was a suicide attack. Many people have been martyred, many more have been wounded," he added, speaking from the main northwestern city of Peshawar.
Rescue workers were searching the site of the blast as people were feared to be trapped under the rubble. The dead and the injured have been shifted to GHQ hospital.