NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned a suicide bombing outside a police station in Kabal, Swat District, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, calling it a “heinous and cowardly” act of terrorism.
The attack on Aug. 2 killed at least 16 Pakistani nationals, most of them civilians, and wounded dozens more. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
In a press statement, council members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims’ families and the government and people of Pakistan, and wished the injured a full and speedy recovery.
The attack is the latest in a series of assaults by the TTP targeting security forces and police installations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent years. It is part of a broader escalation of militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest that has repeatedly drawn condemnation from the international community.
The 15-member body reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and stressed that such acts are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of motivation.
Council members underlined the need to hold the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of the attack accountable and bring them to justice.
They urged all states, in line with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the government of Pakistan toward that end.
The statement reaffirmed the need for all states to combat, by all means and in accordance with the UN Charter and other obligations under international law, threats to international peace and security posed by terrorist acts.
