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Deadly twin blasts in Pakistan

July 26, 2013

Twin bombings at a busy marketplace in northwest Pakistan have left dozens of people dead or injured, officials have said. It is the deadliest attack in the country to take place during the holy month of Ramadan.

https://p.dw.com/p/19F14
Pakistani villagers injured in a bomb blast recover at at a local hospital in Parachinar, Pakistan on Friday, July 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Ali Afzal)
Image: picture-alliance/AP

At least 51 people were killed and more than 150 wounded Friday when a pair of blasts rocked a bazaar in Parachina, the main town of the Kurram tribal district on the border with Afghanistan.

One of the bombs is believed to have been planted on a motorcycle, police spokesman Fazal Naeem Khan told the AP news agency. The second bomb detonated four minutes later about 400 yards (365 meters) away from the first blast, government official Javed Ali said.

Double bombing in Pakistan

The top administrator of the Kurram region, Riaz Mahsud, told the Reuters news agency that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers. Both blasts occurred before sunset, just as people were headed to the market to buy food for their evening meals.

"Some of the injured are still in critical condition and have been shifted to the main hospital in Parachina," Mahsud said.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but sectarian violence between Pakistan's Muslim Sunni majority and its Shiite minority has been on the rise recently.

Parachina has a significant Shiite community which has been the victim of violence by Sunni militants in the past.

dr/tm (AFP, Reuters, AP)