A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shia mosque in Pakistan's restive northwestern Kurram tribal region, killing 26 people and injuring over 40 others.
A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shia mosque in Pakistan's restive northwestern Kurram tribal region today, killing 26 people and injuring over 40 others.
The attacker, who was on a motorcycle, detonated his explosive vest outside the mosque in the crowded Kurmi Bazar at Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal region, which has been rocked by sectarian violence over the past few years.
Officials told the media that 26 people were killed and over 40 injured. They described the condition of some of the injured as critical.
An emergency was declared at the hospital.
A faction of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, with a commander telling reporters in the region that the Shia community was targeted because it was allegedly involved in activities against the militants.
The officials said they feared the casualties could rise as the bomber had struck at a time when the market was full of people.
The bomber blew himself up shortly before the weekly Friday prayers. Earlier reports had said that a car bomb had gone off at the market. Witnesses said several shops and vehicles were destroyed by the blast. Most of the casualties were civilians, they said.
The injured were taken to hospital by local residents in private vehicles. Security forces cordoned off the site of the attack and launched a search operation. Authorities imposed a curfew in Parachinar after an irate mob protested against the attack.
Several persons were hurt when police carried out a baton charge to disperse the protestors. Hundreds of people have died in clashes between rival Shia and Sunni tribesmen in Kurram Agency over the past four years. The situation in the region was exacerbated after Taliban fighters began backing the Sunni tribesmen. Kurram Agency is the only part of the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan that has a sizeable Shia population.
Allama Nawaz Irfani, the cleric of the Jamia Masjid in Parachinar, called for three days of mourning to protest the attack. Markets in the town will remain closed tomorrow as part of the protest.
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