Terrror attacks in Pakistan kill at least 61

Pakistan faced a number of terror attacks on three Pakistani cities on Friday that left at least 61 people dead and many injured. A suicide bomber in the city of Quetta killed at least 12 people and injured about 20.
Subsequently, there were twin blasts in a congested market in the city of Parachinar. This is the main city in the Kurram tribal region and at least 45 people were killed in this blast. There was another attack by a gunmen in the port city of Karachi - this attack at a roadside restaurant killed four.
The attacks have taken place ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid, which ends the holy month of Ramadan.
This has been reported in latimes.com dated 24 June 2017.

After the Quetta attack, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility. Later, the Islamic State extremist group also said it was behind the attack. To prove its claim, it released a photograph of the alleged attacker and identified the individual as well.


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Suicide bomb attack kills at least 72 in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan

A suicide bomb attacked in the crowded Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan has killed at least 72 persons and wounded dozens more. The attack was carried out by the Islamic State and it is believed to have been the deadliest one on the wave of bombings across Pakistan this week.
The Islamic State militant group which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan and has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 17 February 2017.

While the death toll was indicated as 72, with more than 150 injured, the death toll could rise.
The attack on the famous Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in the town of Sehwan Sharif has reveal that militants still pose a major threat to stability in the nuclear-armed country of 190 million people. In August last year, at least 74 people, mostly lawyers, were killed in a suicide bombing of a hospital in Quetta. Responsibility for that attack was claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban - Jamaat-ur-Ahrar - and the IS.
Moreover, Jamaat also claimed responsibility for a bombing in Lahore in which 13 people died.


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Suicide bomb and gun attacks in northwestern Pakistan leave at least 13 dead

Suicide bomb and gun attacks in northwestern Pakistan leave at least 13 dead and 54 others injured. A suicide bomber shot his way through the main gate leading to the district court in the city of Mardan, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and threw a hand grenade before detonating his suicide vest among the morning crowds. Many of the wounded are in a critical condition and death toll could increase.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 2 September 2016.

As revealed by a senior police official, the bomber had up to eight kilogrammes of explosives packed into his vest. The dead included lawyers, police personnel and civilians.
On Friday, a group of militants had stormed a Christian neighborhood near Warsak Dam, just north of Peshawar. Four of the militants wore suicide vests and entered the colony and one of them went into a church, but it was empty. But, the attackers killed one Christian. The suicide bombers were later killed by soldiers backed by army helicopters in an exchange of gunfire. Three security officials and two civilian guards were also wounded in the attacks.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for both attacks. It has also admitted that it was behind a massive suicide blast three weeks ago in which a number of lawyers wee killed in the southwestern city of Quetta, apart from the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 people.


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ISIS militants ambush and kill Taliban fighters in Afghanistan

#ISIS #PakistanTaliban #AfghanistanTaliban It was a fight between two Islamist groups when extremists fighting for the Islamic State's fledgling outpost in Afghanistan brutally beheaded at least 10 Taliban members when they were fleeing a gun battle with government troops.
The attack happened in a remote area in the eastern province of Nangarhar and has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 8 June 2015.

The rival terror groups had declared war on one another in April after the Afghan Taliban branded the self-declared caliphate of ISIS illegitimate and refused to declare allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Since then, the rivalry between the two Islamic terror groups have intensified with the ISIS responding by launching recruitment drives deep into Taliban territory. Tis allowed them to expand rapidly – they have even replaced the Taliban as the dominant controlling force in one of the districts.
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(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Bomb blast in Lahore churches leaves at least 10 dead

#Youhanabad #lahoreblast #sundaymass #PakistanTaliban #suicidebomber Christians make up hardly two percent of the population of Pakistan but, two bomb blasts targeting two churches in Lahore, the capital of the densely populated Punjab province, and has left behind at least 10 dead with another 50 injured as reported in bbc.com dated 15 March 2015.
The death toll as per local media has reached 14.
The explosions happened at the Catholic Church and Christ Church in the city's Youhanabad area. There were large crowds already in the area to attend Sunday mass. Incidentally, the Christian community of Pakistan has often been targeted by militants even though the Christians form a negligible percentage.
The responsibility of the attack has been claimed by an offshoot of the Pakistan Taliban that calls itself Jamatul Ahrar.
As per the witnesses, the attack was carried out by suicide bombers but this has not been confirmed by the police. The bombers are believed to have set off their explosives at the gates of the churches.
The bomb blasts led to violence and protesters carrying sticks blocked Lahore's Ferozepur Road and also attacked a bus station.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain have condemned these latest bombings.

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