Pakistan suicide attacks death toll rises to 57

Pakistan suicide attacks death toll rises to 57 (AFP) / 27 July 2013 Twin suicide attacks rocked a busy marketplace in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 57 people and injuring more than 160 others, officials said, in the deadliest attack to hit the country during the holy month of Ramadan. The explosions at the bazaar in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal district on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, sent handcarts flying as shoppers bought food to open their fasts at sunset. Officials said the death toll has risen to 57 people in the twin blasts. More than 160 others have been injured in the attack. “We have sent 20 critically wounded people to major hospitals in Peshawar and Kohat to save their lives,” he added. Parachinar administration officials said both blasts were carried out by suicide bombers. “There were two blasts in the main bazaar of Parachinar. These were carried out by two suicide bombers who walked into the crowded market,” Riaz Mehsud, a senior administration official, told AFP. Mehsud said the market was packed with people and that handcarts were sent flying after the blasts, which also damaged up to 15 shops and two cars. “We found many body parts, including parts of the suicide bombers. There was blood and human flesh at the blasts site,” he said. The bombers struck in a largely Shia area but officials said they could not immediately identify the victims. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. “Many bodies can’t be identified because they have been mutilated very badly,” Salahuddin, a health technician at the hospital, told AFP. He said lists of the dead and injured were still being drafted, adding “I fear that the number of the dead and wounded people from this attack may rise.” Kurram is frequently the scene of sectarian violence between Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority and Shiite minority. Friday’s attacks come two days after suicide gunmen and car bombers attacked a government complex housing offices of Pakistan’s top intelligence agency in the southern town of Sukkur. Taylor Scott International