Suicide car bomber kills 12 in Quetta and twin blasts in Parachinar leave at least 25 dead

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

At least 37 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in two separate attacks in Pakistan, according to local officials.

Early on Friday, a suicide car bomber killed 12 people in Quetta in the volatile south-west.

In the afternoon, twin blasts hit a market in Parachinar, the largest city in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing at least 25 and injuring more than 100, medical officials said.

The explosion in Quetta seemingly targeted the office of the inspector general of police. Four officers were among those killed in the blast, which occurred after a car carrying explosives was pulled over at a checkpoint.

Rahmat Ullah, 35, a police officer, was leaving the inspector general’s office when he felt the explosion. It filled the air with dust and covered the ground in shattered glass, he said. He ran until he fell and passed out.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” Ullah said. “When I opened my eyes, I was at the hospital with injuries to my leg. It was the horrifying moment of my life. When I recall the blood and human flesh on the road, it is very disturbing.”

The twin attacks in Parachinar appeared to target civilians and took place in a busy market in an area populated mostly by Shia Muslims.

After the first explosion, which struck as shoppers were preparing for Eid, people gathered around the victims. Three minutes later, another explosion ripped through the crowd, said Sajid Hussain Turi, a local lawmaker.

One witness, Amjid Ali, said he was close to the market during the first attack. “I mentally prepared myself to go and rescue victims but, as I got closer to the area, another explosion happened. It was horrifying,” he said.

The roads were full of people with “very, very serious injuries”, Ali said. “Everyone was screaming as if it was doomsday.”

He said authorities did little to help ferry victims from the attack site. “All those who died are Shia Muslims, and aren’t even considered Muslims in this country. No one has come for help,” Ali said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pakistani residents carry an injured man after twin blasts at a market in Parachinar. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

Muhammed Sabir Hussain, a medical officer at Parachinar hospital, said 25 people had been killed and 90 were being treated.

Two helicopters were dispatched from Peshawar to evacuate the severely wounded, ISPR, the media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces, said.



Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, and a local affiliate of Islamic State claimed to be behind the Quetta attack.



No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombs in Parachinar. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed two previous attacks in the city this year.

The incidents came after a series of brazen assaults in neighbouring Afghanistan, which authorities there have blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials often voice concerns about terrorist groups allegedly operating from Afghanistan.

A foreign ministry official previously said Jamaat-ul-Ahrar had shelter in Afghanistan. Quetta and Parachinar are close to the country’s border.

Despite continued bloodshed, there has been a marked decrease in violence in Pakistan in recent years. Deaths declined by almost two-thirds between 2014 and 2016.

Last year, 1,803 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan, about 600 of them civilians, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

The latest attack in Quetta followed the release by the Pakistani military of a supposed video confession by Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian sentenced to death for alleged espionage.

In the video, Jadhav said Indian intelligence had organised terrorist attacks in Quetta to disrupt the China-Pakistan economic corridor. Jadhav has not been granted diplomatic assistance, and India has said his trial is unfair.

Also on Friday, four police officers were killed by gunmen on motorcycles as they left a hotel in Karachi after eating iftar, the dinner to break the Ramadan fast.

Additional reporting by Kiyya Baloch