PARACHINAR: Twin blasts ripped through a congested market and a taxi stand in Parachinar town on Friday, leaving 45 people dead and around 75 injured, officials and residents said.
Political Agent Riaz Mehsud said the death toll could rise because many people had suffered critical injuries. He said arrangements were being made to shift the critically injured to Peshawar and other cities.
He said one of the blasts was carried out by a suicide bomber while the other might have been a planted one.
Residents said the blasts occurred within an interval of a few seconds about two hours before Iftar. The first blast occurred at the main chowk near a mosque where a large number of people were busy purchasing food items.
The second blast took place at a taxi stand on the School Road, causing damage to shops and vehicles.
Wazir Ali, an office-bearer of Anjuman-i-Hussainia, said human flesh and blood littered the area near the mosque.
The situation in the agency headquarters hospital, the main healthcare facility in the area, was chaotic. Badly injured people were lying on the floor due to non availability of beds and people were seen bringing charpoys from their homes for them.
Dr Abdullah Jan of the agency headquarters hospital said over 100 injured were brought to the hospital. Majority of the critically injured had been referred to hospitals in Kohat and Peshawar while 25 had been admitted, he added.
Another doctor said 10 bodies had been brought to the hospital and 25 were lying in an Imambargah.
The injured were being taken to other towns in private cars.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah condemned the blasts in Parachinar and expressed sorrow over the loss of precious lives.
He issued directives to the commissioner of Kohat division and the provincial director general of health services to enforce emergency in hospitals and ensure best possible treatment to the injured.
Parachinar is some 250km west of Peshawar and has a population of 50,000.In the wake of sectarian clashes in 2007 army and paramilitary forces set up several checkpoints on roads leading to the town.
ROADSIDE BLAST: Two people were killed and six others injured in lower Kurram tribal region on Friday when a passenger bus hit a landmine in Mangag area of Khar Patti. The bus was going to Parachinar.
The deceased were identified as Nasir Hussain Toori and Khair Ali. They died on the spot.
The injured were identified as Mushahad Hussain, Afsar Ali, Jamil Hussain, Intizar Hussain, Inayat Ali and Musarrat Hussain. They were taken to the agency headquarter hospital in Parachinar. Two of the injured were said to be in critical condition.
