Pakistan Market Bombing Live Updates: Several Killed After Bomb Hits Shiite Area In Parachinar

UPDATE: 6:05 a.m. EST — The death toll from the bombing at the vegetable market in northwestern Pakistan rose to 21, authorities said Saturday. According to BBC, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, claimed responsibility for the blast, saying that its goal was "to avenge the killing of our associates."

The group's spokesman also reportedly said that it wanted to "teach a lesson to Shiites for their support for Bashar Assad," referring to the president of Syria.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif expressed his condolences for those who lost their lives in the attack. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the blast Saturday morning.

UPDATE: 2:35 a.m. EST — The death toll in a market bombing in Pakistan on Saturday has climbed to 20, Agence France-Presse reported citing the military. Over 50 people were injured in the blast.

Original story:

At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured after a bombing Saturday in Parachinar vegetable market in a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, officials reportedly said. The incident took place in Parachinar city, the capital of Kurram tribal district on the Afghan border.

Ikramullah Khan, a senior government official in Parachinar, told local media that "the bomb seems to have been planted in a vegetable crate,” adding that the death toll is expected to rise.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

This is a developing story.