An explosion apparently targeting a Shia mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Parachinar, in a remote area bordering Afghanistan, killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens, officials said. Parachinar is in the Kurram Valley of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan and has been sporadic target of terror attacks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the blast, which took place as people gathered for Friday prayers near the women's entrance of the Shia mosque in the central bazaar, follows a series of attacks this year.
Gunfire before attack
A parliamentarian from Parachinar, Sajid Hussain, said the death toll from the explosion had reached 11, with 60 wounded. He said gunfire preceded the incident, which he described as a suicide attack, adding, "The attack took place in a busy area and a women's mosque appears to be the target."
Last month, more than 80 people were killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan that was claimed by Islamic State.
Authorities in mainly Sunni-Muslim Pakistan said a military rescue helicopter had been sent to the scene to help evacuate the injured.
Two children among dead
Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the Agency Headquarters Hospital in the region, said five bodies, including a woman and two children, and more than three dozen wounded, had been brought to the hospital and an appeal for blood donors had been made.
"Patients are being brought to us in private cars and ambulances and we have received over three dozen patients so far," Dr. Hussain told Reuters.
The attacks have shattered hopes that Pakistan may have come through the militant violence that has scarred its recent history and increased pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government to show it was improving security.
Mr. Sharif condemned the attack and said the government would keep up efforts to "eliminate the menace of terrorism."
In a statement, he said, “The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil.”
Spate of blasts
On 21 January 2017, a bomb was detonated at a vegetable market here in which at least 25 people were killed and 87 injured. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami and Pakistani Taliban splinter Shehryar Mehsud group both separately issued a joint claim of responsibility for that blast.
T he same area has seen several explosions in 2008 , February 2012, September 2012, 2013 and in December 2015 .
