A blast ripped through a market in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city of Parachinar on Thursday, leaving several injured, according to police.
Police said the blast took place in the city’s Turi Bazaar, a crowded marketplace which has in the past been a frequent target of terrorist attacks.
The nature of the blast has not yet been determined. Eyewitnesses told a private TV channel that explosive material may have been hidden in a vegetable cart which went off.
Seventeen people were brought wounded for treatment, said hospital staff, including a child. Deputy Medical Superintendent (DMS) Parachinar Hospital Dr Qaiser Hasan said that two among the wounded are critically injured.
Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast, saying ‘terrorists seek to target citizens and leave Pakistan in the grip of terror’. “The whole nation is united against the enemies of Pakistan,” he said, and extended his heartfelt condolences to the affected families and prayed for the early recovery of those injured.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned the attack and expressed concern over the rise of such incidents of terrorism in the country. “Terrorists have been emboldened due to a lack of implementation of the National Action Plan,” he said, and directed all PPP representatives present in Parachinar to come to the aid of those injured. He demanded that those involved in the terrorist activity be immediately arrested.
Following the blast, protesters gathered around the press club and staged a demonstration, urging the government to provide better security to the city.
According to media reports, the Turi bazaar area used to have a single track for vehicular traffic which was recently widened and split to keep apart incoming and outgoing traffic. Despite similar incidents in the past, vendors selling their wares on carts are a common sight, and the carts are targeted by terrorist elements for such attacks.
