Blast at market in northwest Pakistan kills 20

International Desk: A suicide bomb attack on a crowded festival and market in northwest Pakistan’s northwest killed at least 20 people on Friday and wounded 30, a government official said.

The blast occurred at around the same time that three attackers tried to storm the Chinese consulate in the southern city of Karachi. Two policemen and the three attackers were killed.

The Karachi attack was claimed by a separatist insurgent group called the Balochistan Liberation Army, and did not appear to be connected to the attack on the market in the northwestern region of Orakzai.

In Orakzai, a suicide bomber drove a motorcycle into a crowd attending a festival and market that attracts people from different religious communities, before detonating his explosives.

No group claimed responsibility.

“It was a suicide blast at the festival that takes place every Friday,” said Abbas Khan, the assistant commissioner of the district, said.

Khan said that among the 20 dead were three members of the minority Sikh community and two security officials.

The Geo television channel showed footage of military officials cordoning off the bomb site.

Orakzai was formerly a semi-autonomous part of Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun tribal area along the Afghan border.

Source: Agencies


risingbd/Nov 23, 2018/Mukul