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Terrorists Kill 22 Shias in Northwest Pakistan

Terrorists Kill 22 Shias  in Northwest Pakistan
Terrorists Kill 22 Shias  in Northwest Pakistan

A bomb exploded Saturday in a market in a northwest tribal region that borders Afghanistan, killing 22 people and wounding at least 50, officials said.

Sabir Hussain at the main hospital in Parachinar, the capital of Pakistan’s predominantly Shia area of Kurram tribal region, said two more wounded victims died in the hospital, increasing the death toll, AP reported.

Shahid Khan, an assistant tribal administrator, said the explosion took place when the market was crowded with retailers buying fruits and vegetables from a wholesale shop. He said the attack was being investigated. Lashker-e-Jhangvi, a banned sectarian terrorist group that has attacked minority Shia Muslims in the past, claimed the attack. The bombing took place in Kurram, which has seen attack by militants who have hideouts there.

“That was our combined work with Shahryar group of Mahsud Taliban,” Ali Sufyan, a spokesman for the banned group, wrote in a text message to an AP reporter.

Kurram has been the scene of increased militant activities in recent years and the army carried out a massive operation against extremists in the region but they still have the capacity to strike.

Khan said some of the wounded were airlifted to hospitals in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Hospitals in tribal regions and rural areas of Pakistan typically are not equipped to handle such emergencies.

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