KABUL (SW): At least 20 people were killed in a blast at a vegetable market in Pakistan’s Kurram Agency on Saturday morning.
Ikramullah Khan, a senior government official in Parachinar, told AFP that the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) which was hidden in a vegetable box. In a text message sent to journalists, the proscribed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi al-Alami claimed that it, along with Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter Shehryar Mehsud group carried out the attack. However, the Shehryar Mehsud group did not independently claim the bombing.
A statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the blast took place at 08:50 a.m. Army personnel and Frontier Corps's Quick Reaction Force reached the blast site and cordoned off the area. Army helicopters were also flown to the site to evacuate the injured to hospitals, the ISPR said.
In December, 2015 a similar blast in a makeshift market in Parachinar had killed 25 people. Two militant groups, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Al Alami and Ansarul Mujahideen based in South Waziristan Agency, had claimed responsibility for that blast.
According to the Dawn news, Kurram is one of the most sensitive tribal areas as it borders three Afghan provinces and at one point was one of the key routes for militant movement across the border. It has witnessed scores of attacks and kidnappings for ransom incidents in the past several years. Parachinar is the administrative headquarters of the agency near the Afghan border.It is small garrison town developed by the British Army in the foothill of Spin Ghar (White Mountain) in mid-1895. The town's total population is about 40,000 comprising people of different tribes, races and faiths.
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