Forty killed in series of bomb and gun attacks

Pakistan: Terrorists attacking soft targets, says prime minister

At least 40 people have been killed and nearly 100 wounded in four separate bomb and gun attacks in three major Pakistani cities, officials said.

A suicide bomber was involved in the first car bombing near the office of the provincial police chief in the south-western city of Quetta that killed at least 12 people and wounded 20.

There were conflicting claims of responsibility for this attack from different extremist groups.

Hours later twin bombings, minutes apart, hit a crowded market in a Shiitedominated city in Parachinar, the main city in the Kurram tribal region, and killed 24 people, mostly minority Shiite Muslims, according to government administrator Zahid Hussain.

Yesterday evening, gunmen in the port city of Karachi attacked police officers at a roadside restaurant and killed four of them before fleeing, according to senior police officer Asif Ahmed.

The bomb and gun attacks come a few days before the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, which ends the holy month of Ramadan.

TV footage showed panicked people rushing to safety following the Parachinar market bombings.

Mohammad Amir, an official at a government-run hospital in Parachinar, said they had received 24 dead bodies and more than 20 of the wounded were listed in a critical condition.

Mr Hussain said a severed head of a man was found near the scene of blasts, indicating the second attack in Parachinar might have been carried out by a suicide bomber, but officers are still investigating to determine the exact nature of the bombings. According to Pakistan’s military, it was using two helicopters to transport wounded people to other cities.

Prime minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attacks, saying terrorists were attacking soft targets.