Pakistani Shias angry over blasts

PESHAWAR: Shias in Pakistan’s restive northwest protested on Monday as the death toll from twin blasts three days earlier rose to 69, marking a grisly Hari Raya Aidilfitri for the town worst hit by militancy this year.

Dozens of protesters offered their prayers wearing black armbands in the market in Parachinar, where the bombs tore through crowds of shoppers on Friday, local officials said.

“The death toll from Friday’s blasts has reached 69,” local administration official Basir Khan Wazir said.

Parachinar, capital of Kurram district, a mainly Shia area of Pakistan’s tribal belt, had suffered two deadly bomb blasts in its markets this year.

It was the site of the first major attack in the country this year when a bomb killed 24 people in January, an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. In March, a

second Taliban attack in another market killed 22 people.

Friday’s assault brought the town’s loss of lives due to extremist attacks up to 115, more than any city in Pakistan this year.

It was claimed by a little known group believed to be linked to Lashkar-e-Janghvi, one of Pakistan’s bloodiest sectarian outfits.

Kurram is known for sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shia, who make up roughly 20 per cent of Pakistan’s population of 200 million.

“We have been a constant target of the Taliban but the government has always failed us,” Muzamil Hussain, a Shia activist from Parachinar said on Friday. AFP