Summary All business centres will remain closed throughout the city today.
PARACHINAR (Dunya News) - Traders closed their shops in Parachinar on Sunday to protest a deadly bomb attack in vegetable market a day earlier.
All business centres will remain closed throughout the city today.
At least 25 people were killed and more than 30 injured when a a bomb exploded in a crowded vegetable market in Parachinar city, the capital of Kurram tribal district on the Afghan border.
Video footage from the site showed chaotic scenes with people running and shouting in panic and victims strewn in front of vegetables shops among smashed crates and pushcarts.
Ikramullah Khan, a senior government official in Parachinar, told that the blast was caused by an IED (improvised explosive device) hidden in a vegetable box.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief over the latest loss of life, his office said in a statement.
Kurram is one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts which are governed according to local laws and customs.
Pakistan’s battle against militancy began in 2004 after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan forced Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants to flee across the border.
Army launched an operation in June 2014 to wipe out militant bases in northwestern tribal areas and bring an end to a bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004. It has conducted a series of military offensives as well as concerted efforts to block militants’ sources of funding.
Last year the country recorded its lowest number of killings since 2007 when the Pakistani Taliban was formed.
But the remnants of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks.
... with inputs from AFP
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