ISLAMABAD, July 30. /TASS/. The death toll from the suicide bombing at a congress of the Assembly of Islamic Clerics party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan has risen to 44, the Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday citing the province’s health minister, Riaz Anwar.

"It was an attack by a suicide bomber," the minister was cited by the newspaper. "The terrorist blew himself up near the stage."

The Geo News television channel reported earlier that 40 people had been killed and more than 200 had been wounded in the terror attack.

The blast occurred at around 4:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. Moscow time), when a party was addressing a crowd of around 400 supporters.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered to launch an investigation and identify those responsible.