Bomb blast in a vegetable market in Parachinar kills at least 20

A bomb exploded at a vegetable market in northwest Pakistan in the city of Parachinar, a mainly Shia Muslim area on the Afghan border. It has left at least 20 dead and another 40 wounded. At the time, the market was full of shoppers and officials believe that the death toll could rise.
A faction of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) said it was behind the blast - its intention was "to avenge the killing of our associates". The group wanted to "teach a lesson to Shiites for their support for Bashar al-Assad." The obvious reference was to the Syrian president.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 21 January 2017.

The spokesman of the group warned that his Sunni Muslim group will continue to attack Shia Muslims if they back President Assad because his regime is entrenched in a six-year civil war that has claimed more than 310,000 lives. The exact source of the blast is still not known. It could be from an improvised explosive device (IED) hidden in a vegetable box. Or, it could be a suicide bomber.
Pakistan's soldiers had cordoned off the bomb site, and Army helicopters were sent to evacuate the injured. Incidentally, Parachinar is the capital of the Kurram, one of Pakistan's seven tribal districts. In December 2015, an IED blast at the same market had killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 30.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Two suicide bombers attacked a market in Baghdad and killed at least 27 people and left another 50 injured - many of the victims were shopkeepers who had gathered around a cart that was selling breakfast when the explosions took place.
The market is located in the al Sinek neighborhood on Rasheed Street, which is one of the main thoroughfares in the Iraqi capital. The area is packed with shops and markets and was targeted at a time when it was crowded.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 31 December 2016.

This attack is believed to be the deadliest attack on the city since mid-October when a man blew himself up at a funeral, killing more than 30 people. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for that attack.
It is known that the city of Baghdad has been on alert ever since the beginning of the offensive to re-take the city of Mosul in the north from IS. Prime Minister Haider al Abadi had indicated that the Mosul operation would take at least three months more - he had earlier promised that it would be completed before 2017.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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