Taliban claim responsibility for Parachinar blasts

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for two deadly suicide bombings in Kurram Agency, killing 57 people and injuring nearly 200 others. The Taliban bombers used motorcycles to target Shia Muslims in crowded marketplaces in Parachinar just minutes before the iftar on Friday. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility shortly after the massacre.
Talking to reporters from an undisclosed location by phone, a spokesman for the proscribed TTP's sub-network, Ansarul Mujahideen, said it was behind the bombings. Spokesman Abu Baseer claimed responsibility for the twin blasts in Parachinar. "The suicide bombers of Ansarul Mujahideen carried out the twin suicide attacks in Parachinar on Friday and the target were members of the Shia community," the spokesman claimed.
"We have planned more similar attacks against the Shia community in Pakistan to seek revenge of the brutalities on Sunni Muslims in Syria and Iraq," Abu Baseer warned. Meanwhile death toll from twin deadly suicide bombings reached 57 on Saturday as more injured died of wounds, officials said.
Shiite groups started three-day mourning across Pakistan against the terror attacks, which killed and injured mostly civilians including children, reports IRNA. They will hold rallies and stage protest sit-in in major cities to condemn the attacks. Leaders of Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen and other groups will hold demonstrations.
Some groups also took processions late Friday and condemned the massacre of Shia Muslims in terror attacks. Angry demonstrators condemned the government for their failure to break the network of those who target innocent people. Giving details about the attacks, Riaz Mehsud, Political Agent of Kurram Agency, said the suicide bombers came on motorbikes and blew themselves up in the crowded Parachinar marketplace.
He said around 400 persons were busy shopping for Iftar in the narrow roadside markets when the suicide blasts took place. "One suicide bomber blew himself up first in one corner of the bazaar and a minute later the second bomber carried out the attack in another corner, causing widespread destruction." President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have strongly condemned the blasts in Parachinar.