Parachinar Blast: Car Bomb In Pakistan Kills Several Near Shiite Mosque

An explosion Friday rocked Pakistan’s northwestern city of Parachinar killing at least 22 people and injuring over dozens, according to local officials. The blast occurred near a mosque in the Shia-dominated area of the city, reports said.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of Pakistan’s Taliban militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press. The group was also part of the series of attacks that occurred throughout Pakistan last month, including the Lahore suicide attack that killed 14 people.

Sajid Hussain, a politician from Parachinar, said gunfire led up to the blast, which he called a suicide attack.

"The attack took place in a busy area and a women's mosque appears to be the target," Hussain said, according to Reuters.

Ambulances and emergency personnel were dispatched to the area. Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the Agency Headquarters Hospital in the area, told Reuters five bodies, including that of a woman and two children, and dozens of injured people were brought to the hospital.

"Patients are being brought to us in private cars and ambulances and we have received over three dozen patients so far," Hussain told the news agency.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack saying the government would keep up efforts to "eliminate the menace of terrorism."

"The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil," Sharif said in a statement.

Following the blast, some residents and local Shiite leaders took to the streets to criticize security forces and the government.

A key city in the Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan, Parachinar has been plagued by sectarian violence. The region was the bastion of Taliban and other Sunni militant groups and Pakistan’s army has said the insurgents were cleared from the area.