Photo taken with mobile phone shows local people gather as smoke rises from a blast site in northwest Pakistan's Parachinar, on June 23, 2017. At least 18 people were killed and over 100 others injured as twin blasts ripped through a market on Friday afternoon in Parachinar, capital city of Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency, reported local Urdu TV channel Geo. (Xinhua/Stringer)
ISLAMABAD, June 23 (Xinhua) -- At least 18 people were killed and over 100 others injured as twin blasts ripped through a market on Friday afternoon in Parachinar, capital city of Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency, reported local Urdu TV channel Geo.
The attack took place at about 5:30 p.m. local time when a handgrenade was hurled into the crowds of the people busy with shopping at a downtown market of the city for the coming Eid, a holiday which marks the end of the fast month Ramadan, said local media.
The second blast happened a few minutes after people gathered at the first blast site for rescue, local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
The second blast seems to be of suicide nature, said local media. But there is no official confirmation about it yet.
Army and security personnel have rushed to the site shortly after the twin blasts were reported.
All the blast victims have been shifted to local hospitals and the hospitals in the adjacent cities, said local media.
Some of the seriously wounded have been airlifted to Peshwar, the largest city in Pakistan's northwest region, according to local media reports.
Local media quoted hospital sources as saying at least 30 out of the 100-plus injured people are in critical condition.
Pakistan's army mouth, Inter-Services Public Relations,said two army helicopters have been dispatched to Parachinar for the rescue work.
So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Friday's bomb attack in Parachinar is the second of its kind in Pakistan.
Earlier on Friday morning, an explosive-laden vehicle rammed into a check post outside a senior police officer's office in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta, leaving at least 11 people killed and over a dozen others injured.
