Car bomb near mosque in Pakistan kills 24

The blast also damaged vehicles and nearby shops, according to government administrator Zahid Hussain, who also said Shiites were the intended target.

Kamran Ali, hospitalized with a head injury, said he was sitting in his shop when the blast took place.

“My shop partially collapsed and I was unable to move for the next 30 minutes or so, and then residents brought me to hospital,” he said. The area was littered with broken glass and spattered blood, he added.

Parachinar is a key town in the Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan and has been wracked by sectarian violence. The area once was a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban and Sunni militant groups. Although the army says it has cleared Kurram of militants, violence has continued.

Mansoor and Lashker-e-Jhangvi, another banned Sunni militant group, has claimed responsibility for previous attacks.

Two doctors at the government-run hospital said 22 bodies and more than 70 wounded were brought to the facility. The doctors spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Other wounded initially taken to private facilities also were brought to the government hospital.

Sabir Hussain, a hospital official, said the Pakistan army took 40 of the most critically wounded by helicopters to hospitals in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where two people died.

Angered by the attack, some residents were seen chanting slogans against the government. Security forces fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd, according to officials.