The number of people killed in twin bombings in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar has risen to at least 67, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks across the country on Friday to 85, officials said.

Shahid Khan, a local government official, said the toll could rise as many of the victims remained in critical condition on Saturday.

More than 200 people were wounded in the rush-hour attacks on Parachinar's Toori Bazar, he told local media.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni armed group, claimed the bombings in the predominantly Shia Muslim town.

Earlier on Friday, a suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in Quetta, in Balochistan province, killed at least 14 people, at least 10 of whom were police officers, the AFP news agency said.

Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In yet another incident on Friday, armed men in the port city of Karachi, in Sindh province, attacked police officers at a roadside restaurant and killed four of them before fleeing, Asif Ahmed, a senior police officer, told the Associated Press news agency.

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister, ordered security to be tightened across the country after the attacks.

"Terrorists are attacking soft targets and no Muslim can ever imagine to commit such horrific act," he said in a statement.

"Such acts of terrorism will be dealt with the full power of the state."

Zoha Waseem, a researcher at King's College in London, criticised what she called Pakistan's "ad hoc" and "reactionary response to terrorism", saying it only served to increase the appeal of armed groups.

Government policy of granting sweeping powers to security forces and increasing surveillance "severely impinge on civil rights," she told Al Jazeera.

"They are not preventive. They breed and exacerbate existing grievances in Pakistan", she said, adding that such measures meant armed groups "will always find a pool of recruits, because they [public] are targeted by the state".

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Parachinar is the capital of Kurram, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that are governed according to local laws and customs.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital Islamabad, said a state of emergency was declared in Parachinar following the double bombing.

"The military sent two helicopters from Peshawar to ferry the ones that are in need of help," he said.

The blasts in the city came on the final Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, just days before Eid-al-Fitr, one of Islam's holiest festivals.

The third major attack to hit Parachinar this year, the explosions occurred just hours before iftar, when the streets are often crowded with people shopping for food to break their fast with the evening Ramadan meal.

"This happened on the last Friday of Ramadan, just a few days to go before the Eid holiday, so most of the people who were the victims in Parachinar were ordinary shoppers going about their shopping routines and possibly buying gifts for Eid," Hyder said.</s>Pakistani officials say three blasts in two major cities killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100 on June 23 -- the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

Authorities say a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 people -- including at least five police officers -- and wounded 20 people in an attack near the provincial police chief's office in the southwestern city of Quetta, the capital of the Balochistan Province.

There were competing claims of responsibility for the Quetta attack from a Pakistani Taliban breakaway faction calling itself Jamat-ul-Ahrar and the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

IS militants claimed that one of its followers with a suicide belt targeted the police post. IS also released a photograph of the alleged attacker, identifying him as Abu Othman al-Khorasani.

Hours after the Quetta attack, twin bombings that were minutes apart killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 80 at a crowded market in the northwestern Shi'a-dominated city of Parachinar.

Government administrator Zahid Hussain said most of the victims were from Pakistan's Shi'ite minority.

Parachinar is the main city in Pakistan's Kummar tribal region, located along Afghanistan's border.

Officials said the first explosion at Parachinar's Tori market occurred as people were buying food for iftar, the evening meal when Muslims break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

The second blast occurred minutes later as rescuers were trying to aid those wounded by the first explosion.

Mohammad Amir, an official at a government-run hospital in Parachinar, said more than 20 of the wounded victims were listed in critical condition.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the Parachinar attacks, but Sunni militant groups have claimed responsibility for numerous similar attacks against Pakistan's Shi'ite minority in the past.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and Dawn</s>PESHAWAR/KARACHI: Twin blasts tore through a market crowded with Eid shoppers in a mainly Shia town, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car and militants opened fire on police in separate attacks in Pakistan’s three major cities today, killing 42 people and wounding 121 others.

The suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car near Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob’s office in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killing at least 13 people, including seven policemen, and wounding 21 others.

The blast was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Thirteen people, including seven policemen, died in the suicide car bombing, officials said.

Hours later, two back-to-back blasts tore through a market crowded with the people shopping for Eid in the Shia- dominated Parachinar city in the Kurram tribal region, killing at least 25 people, mostly Shias, and injuring 100 others. (AGENCIES)</s>Multiple blasts killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens in two Pakistani cities on the last Friday of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, as officials warned the toll could rise.

Authorities said 13 people were killed and 124 wounded when twin blasts tore through a market in Parachinar, capital of Kurram district, a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan's tribal belt.

Local official Nasrullah Khan told AFP that the first blast detonated as the market was crowded with shoppers preparing for the Eid ul-Fitr festival marking the end of Ramadan.

"When people rushed to the site... to rescue the wounded, a second blast took place," he said, adding that he could not give further details of the attack but that officials fear the toll will increase.

Sabir Hussain, the medical superintendent at Parachinar's main hospital, said it had received 13 bodies and 124 wounded.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for security to be beefed up across the country as he condemned the attack, saying that no Muslim could ever imagine committing such a "horrific" act.

Pakistan has seen a dramatic improvement in security in the last two years, but groups such as the umbrella Pakistani Taliban and other extremist outfits still retain the ability to carry out attacks.

Local lawmaker Sajid Hussain Turi, the owner of the market, said bazaars in Parachinar had been barricaded off and vehicles banned from the area after multiple attacks have hit the city this year.

Parachinar was the location of the first major militant attack in Pakistan in 2017, a bomb in a market which killed 24 people in January and was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. In March a second Taliban attack killed a further 22 people.

There was no immediate claim in Friday's attack.

Kurram, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, is known for sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, who make up roughly 20 percent of Pakistan's population of 200 million.

The twin blasts in Parachinar followed a bombing earlier in the day in southwestern Quetta, capital of the insurgency-wracked Balochistan province, that killed at least 13 people.

Investigators said the attack targeted police. It was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, according to the SITE monitoring group.

There was no immediate explanation for the dual claims. Islamic State Khorasan Province, the Middle Eastern group's affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been known to work with the myriad of Pakistani militant groups in previous attacks, including with JuA.

Officials at the city's Civil Hospital said at least 13 people were killed and around 20 injured, mostly by shrapnel. Police officials said nine policemen were among the dead.

At the hospital in Quetta, worried children stood by the bloodstained cots of wounded relatives, and Pakistani soldiers visited injured colleagues.

Stunned survivors could give few details about the attack. "I was sitting on a chair. There was an explosion. I got injured and fell down," said one victim, Gulzar Ahmad.

Pakistan has waged a long war with militancy, but security has markedly improved in the country since its deadliest-ever terror attack, an assault on a school in northwestern Peshawar in which Taliban gunmen left more than 150 people dead, most of them children.

That attack shocked a country already grimly accustomed to atrocities, and prompted the military to intensify an operation in the tribal areas targeting militants.

The army has also been fighting in mineral-rich Balochistan, the country's most restive province, since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed.

Its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth, but a greater push by Pakistani authorities has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.</s>Twin blasts tore through a market crowded with Eid shoppers in a mainly Shia town, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car and militants opened fire on police in separate attacks in Pakistan's three major cities today, killing 42 people and wounding 121 others.

The suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car near Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob's office in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killing at least 13 people, including seven policemen, and wounding 21 others.

The blast was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Thirteen people, including seven policemen, died in the suicide car bombing, officials said.

Hours later, two back-to-back blasts tore through a market crowded with the people shopping for Eid in the Shia- dominated Parachinar city in the Kurram tribal region, killing at least 25 people, mostly Shias, and injuring 100 others.

The first blast occurred during rush hour in Turi Market, where a bus terminal is also located. The second blast took place as rescuers and bystanders rushed to aid those who had been hurt in the first explosion.

Medical Superintendent of the District General Hospital, Parachinar, Sabir Hussain, said that at least 25 people are killed and over 100 others injured in the blasts. More than 20 of the injured were in critical condition.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts. However, Sunni militant groups have claimed responsibility for several attacks in the area in the past.

In the evening, two armed men on a motorcycle, with their faces covered with helmets, opened fire on police officers at a roadside restaurant in Karachi and killed four of them.

An assistant sub-inspector was among those killed in the attack, said Superintendent of Police Asif Ahmad.

In Parachinar, officials said the blasts on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramazan targeted people shopping in the area and those heading out of the city ahead of Eid.

The emergency and rescue services shifted injured to Agency Headquarters hospital Parachinar. The security forces cordon off the entire area and started search operation.

Pakistan Army contingents and FC personnel reached the site of the attack to aid in rescue efforts.

"Two Army aviation helicopters have taken off from Peshawar to Parachinar for the speedy evacuation of the injured to Peshawar," the army said in a statement.

On March 31, a car bomb blast near an Imambargah of Shia Muslims killed 23 people and injured 70 others in Parachinar.

In January, 25 people were killed and 87 others when a bomb tore through a crowded vegetable market in the same city.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attacks, saying that terrorists involved in the attacks will be taken to task and all out efforts will be taken to eliminate terrorism.

President Mamnoon Hussain, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Governor Balochistan Muhammad Khan Achakzai and former president Asif Ali Zardari, among others, also condemned the attack.

Balochistan government spokesperson Anwarul Haq Kakar told Geo News that the suspected Quetta bomber tried to break a security perimeter to target the police offices but blew up after policemen standing guard attempted to stop him.

Of the injured, nine are said to be policemen.

DIG Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema, addressing the media, said they are examining CCTV footage to determine the details of the incident.

Officials said body parts of the suspected bomber, strewn across the site of the blast, were being collected along with other evidence for forensic examination.

An initial investigation report by Civil Defence Director Aslam Tareen revealed that 75 kilograms of explosives were used in the Quetta blast.

Footage of the incident showed two vehicles badly damaged in the explosion, while debris lay scattered on the street.

Officials said the explosion was loud enough to be heard from a distance and shattered windows of nearby buildings.

Earlier this year, on February 13, a blast took place near the Saryab Bridge in Quetta killing two personnel of the bomb disposal squad and leaving 11 injured.

Later in March, an explosion targeting a security forces convoy occurred on Saryab Road. Four people were injured including three Frontier Corps personnel and a passer-by.

In August, last year, a suicide bomber targeted the emergency services ward at Civil Hospital, following the death of the president of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, killing at least 70 people and leaving many wounded.</s>Two blasts in the northwestern Pakistani town of Parachinar on Friday killed at least 15 people dead, a government official told Reuters, the second deadly bomb attack in the country of the day.

The blasts took place at a market within three minutes of each another, senior government official Wazir Khan Wazir said.

People were at the market buying food for iftar, the meal breaking the fast in the evening during the holy month of Ramadan.</s>Peshawar - Multiple blasts and a gun attack killed more than 60 people and wounded at least 170 in three Pakistani cities on the last Friday of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, as officials warned the toll could rise.

Authorities said 37 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when twin blasts tore through a market in Parachinar, capital of Kurram district, a mainly Shi'ite area of Pakistan's tribal belt.

Local official Nasrullah Khan said that the first blast detonated as the market was crowded with shoppers preparing for the Eid ul-Fitr festival marking the end of Ramadan.

"When people rushed to the site... to rescue the wounded, a second blast took place," he said.

Basir Khan Wazir, the top government official in Parachinar later said that apparently both the blasts were carried out by two suicide bombers.

"We have transported 15 injured to Peshawar but condition of 15 to 20 injured people were critical," Wazir said and warned that the death toll could rise.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for security to be beefed up across the country as he condemned the attack, saying that no Muslim could ever imagine committing such a "horrific" act.

Pakistan has seen a dramatic improvement in security in the last two years, but groups such as the umbrella Pakistani Taliban and other extremist outfits still retain the ability to carry out attacks.

Local lawmaker Sajid Hussain Turi, the owner of the market, said bazaars in Parachinar had been barricaded off and vehicles banned from the area after multiple attacks have hit the city this year.

Parachinar was the location of the first major militant attack in Pakistan in 2017, a bomb in a market which killed 24 people in January and was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. In March a second Taliban attack killed a further 22 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.

Kurram, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, is known for sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shi'ites, who make up roughly 20% of Pakistan's population of 200 million.

The twin blasts in Parachinar followed a bombing earlier in the day in southwestern Quetta, capital of insurgency-wracked Balochistan province, that killed at least 13 people.

Investigators said the attack targeted police. It was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, according to the SITE monitoring group.

There was no immediate explanation for the dual claims. Islamic State Khorasan Province, the Middle Eastern group's affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been known to work with the myriad of Pakistani militant groups in previous attacks, including with JuA.

Officials at the city's Civil Hospital said at least 13 people were killed and around 20 injured, mostly by shrapnel. Police officials said nine policemen were among the dead.</s>Twin blasts tore through a market crowded with Eid shoppers in a mainly Shia town, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car and militants opened fire on police in separate attacks in Pakistan's three major cities today, killing 62 people and wounding nearly 100.

The suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car near Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob's office in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killing at least 13 people, including seven policemen, and wounding 21 others.

The blast was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Thirteen people, including seven policemen, died in the suicide car bombing, officials said.

Hours later, two back-to-back blasts tore through a market crowded with the people shopping for Eid in the Shia- dominated Parachinar city in the Kurram tribal region, killing at least 45 people, mostly Shias, and injuring 75 others.

The first blast occurred during rush hour in Turi Market, where a bus terminal is also located. The second blast took place as rescuers and bystanders rushed to aid those who had been hurt in the first explosion.

At least 45 people have been killed and 75 others injured in Parachinar, an official from the Parachinar administration told</s>Pakistan bomb blasts: Two powerful blasts resulted in the death of 15 people while 70 others were injured in Pakistan’s northwestern town of Parachinar, according to Associated Press. According to the political administration, the blast reportedly took place near the Akbar Khan Market as quoted by Pak media. While the reason behind the blasts is still not known, security forces have rushed to the area and have started the rescue process. The injured have been rushed to the hospital. Wazir Khan Wazir, a senior government official told Reuters that the blasts took place at a market within three minutes of each another, according to a report by IE. People were there in the market buying food for iftar the meal breaking the fast in the evening during this holy month of Ramadan when the blast took place, the report further stated.

Earlier in the day, a suicide car bomber in southwestern Pakistan struck near the office of the provincial police chief resulting in the killing of at least 11 people and leaving 20 wounded, according to an AP report.</s>Officials said the blasts on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramazan targeted people shopping in the area and those heading out of the city ahead of Eid. (Photo: AP)

Peshawar: Pakistan was in a state of shock after weeks of relative peace as terrorists struck at three cities, killing 62 people and wounding over 100, prompting the army to launch a countrywide crackdown on militants.

A suicide bomber on Friday blew up his explosives-laden car near Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob's office in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killing at least 13 people, including seven policemen, and wounding 21 others.

The blast was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Hours later, twin blasts tore through a market crowded with the people shopping for Eid in the Shia-dominated Parachinar city in the Kurram tribal region yesterday, killing at least 45 people, mostly Shias, and injuring 75 others.

Banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Sunni militant group linked with the Taliban took responsibility for the attack. The first blast occurred during rush hour in Turi Market, where a bus terminal is also located. The second blast took place as rescuers and bystanders rushed to aid those who had been hurt in the first explosion.

At least 45 people have been killed and 80 others injured in Parachinar, an official from the local administration said. Officials said the blasts on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramazan targeted people shopping in the area and those heading out of the city ahead of Eid.

Separately in the evening, three militants riding on two motorbikes killed four policemen in a restaurant in Karachi. Police said that a banned group was involved in killing of cops in Karachi but did not identify the attackers.

However, pamphlets found from the spot of attack in Karachi showed that previously little known outfit Ansar al-Sharia Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack. It also warned to launch an operation against security forces.

It appears to be in retaliation for Radd-ul Fassad operation launched by security forces earlier this year to eliminate the facilitators of militants.

The Pakistan army launched a countrywide intelligence-led military operation against militants. Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said that security has been tightened across the country.

"Special Intelligence-Based Operation (IBOs) and search operations (were) launched in coordination with intelligence and other Law Enforcement Agencies," he said.

Ghafoor also said that Afghan soil was used to launch the attacks. "Recent terrorist incidents linked to sanctuaries across (the Pak-Afghan border)," he said. Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said "enemy (was) trying to mar festive mood of nation through such coward acts."

He also said that the enemy would "fail against resilience of Pakistan." The word "enemy" is reserved for India but sometimes it is also used for those using Afghanistan for anti-Pakistan activities.

The attacks were condemned by all parties. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attacks, saying that terrorists involved in the attacks will be taken to task and all out efforts will be taken to eliminate terrorism.

On March 31, a car bomb blast near an Imambargah of Shia Muslims killed 23 people and injured 70 others in Parachinar. In January, 25 people were killed and 87 others when a bomb tore through a crowded vegetable market in the same city.
Multiple blasts occur at a market in Parachinar, killing at least 37 people and wounding over 150 more.