Peshawar:
A suicide attack ripped through a Pakistani market on Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding 45 others near a mosque in the country's tribal Bad Lands, officials said.
The bomb exploded near a Sunni Muslim mosque as the main Friday prayers were taking place in Parachinar, a flashpoint for sectarian violence between majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslims, in the past.
Parachinar is the main town in Kurram district, part of Pakistan's tribal belt on the north-western border with Afghanistan that the United States considers as the headquarter of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
"We have received seven dead bodies and 45 wounded, nine of them are in a critical condition," Doctor Habibullah Jan said from the city's main state-run hospital.
A security official said eight people died and more than 30 were wounded.
Residents said the bombing destroyed at least eight shops in the city's crowded bazaar.
"It was a suicide attack," a senior Pakistani security official said on condition of anonymity. He gave no details.
Other officials could not confirm whether a suicide bomber was responsible.
"We don't have exact details about the nature of the blast," said the top administration official for the region, Mr Mohammad Anees.
According to a tally, Islamist bombers and gunmen have killed more than 4,800 people across Pakistan since July 2007.
The bomb exploded near a Sunni Muslim mosque as the main Friday prayers were taking place in Parachinar, a flashpoint for sectarian violence between majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslims, in the past.
Parachinar is the main town in Kurram district, part of Pakistan's tribal belt on the north-western border with Afghanistan that the United States considers as the headquarter of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
"We have received seven dead bodies and 45 wounded, nine of them are in a critical condition," Doctor Habibullah Jan said from the city's main state-run hospital.
A security official said eight people died and more than 30 were wounded.
Residents said the bombing destroyed at least eight shops in the city's crowded bazaar.
"It was a suicide attack," a senior Pakistani security official said on condition of anonymity. He gave no details.
Other officials could not confirm whether a suicide bomber was responsible.
"We don't have exact details about the nature of the blast," said the top administration official for the region, Mr Mohammad Anees.
According to a tally, Islamist bombers and gunmen have killed more than 4,800 people across Pakistan since July 2007.
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