Move FM Global News

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – At least 35 people were killed and 50 others were injured in a suicide bombing at a packed festival market in northwest Pakistan.

In the attack on Friday morning, a suicide bomber detonated a powerful bomb at a crowded festival market in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province just before 9 a.m. local time.

The District Assistant Commissioner, Abbas Khan told reporters that the suicide bomber was on a motorcycle when he detonated his explosives, targeting shoppers at the packed Friday Market (Juma Bazar) in Kalaya town, which is in the tribal district of Orakzai.

He added that the attacker struck the crowd of shoppers near a Shia religious place called an imambargah.

Khan said, “People from different religious communities from nearby villages come to this market town every Friday morning to shop and to sell their products. There was a huge gathering of local people when the suicide bomber riding a motorcycle entered and blew himself up.” 

District administration officials confirmed the death toll and said that most of the victims were minority Shia Muslims.

They added that three members of the minority Sikh community and two security officials too were killed in the attack.

Following the bombing, military officials cordoned off the area to facilitate an investigation and local officials imposed an emergency in the area in a bid to deal with the situation and any possible further threat. 

Emergency officials rushed to the spot to help those injured in the attack.

Local government officials said that they fear the death toll could rise as at least 17 of the about 51 people injured in the bombing were said to be in a critical condition.

The police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have said that they are on high alert following the Orakzai blast.

In a brief statement after the attack, the Provincial Chief Minister Mehmood Khan said, “Our enemies are not happy with peace in the province.”

Later in the day, a senior local official Khalid Iqbal said, “According to our initial investigation, it was an improvised explosive device hidden in a carton of vegetables.”

Experts have stated that the attack on Friday morning occurred in an area that has been known to offer refuge to Islamist militants fighting across the border in Afghanistan. 

The Kalaya town, which hosts the market each week, has a large population of Shiite Muslims, which is a minority in Pakistan.

In recent years, the community and the area has been increasingly targeted by Sunni extremist groups including the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Pakistani Taliban. 

In 2009, Pakistani security forces increased operations along the border and has constantly fought militants in holed up in the area.

Friday’s attack occurred at around the same time as armed separatists carried out a brazen attack in another part of the country.

On Friday morning, armed separatists stormed the Chinese Consulate in Pakistan’s southern city, Karachi, killing two policemen.

Three attackers too were killed in the counter-attack by Pakistani forces.

The attack in Karachi was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist insurgent group.

However, no group has claimed responsibility for the Orakzai market bombing so far.