85 dead as terror strikes Parachinar, Quetta
The death toll from Friday's blasts targeting security personnel and civilians in Quetta and Parachinar has risen to 85, with 24 more people injured passing away overnight.
Around 200 injured are still being treated and the condition of 15 is said to be critical. It is feared that the death toll may climb further, particularly in Parachinar where a second bomb was timed to target people rushing to help victims injured in the first explosion.
Read: Recent terror attacks linked to sanctuaries across border, says ISPR
Most of the casualties were reported in Parachinar's twin blasts, where Shahid Khan, a government official confirmed there were at least 67 dead and about 200 wounded.
District Headquarters Hospital Parachinar Medical Superintendent Dr. Sabir Hussain said they had received 261 victims of the twin blasts, with 62 listed in critical condition.
He said that army choppers airlifted 11 seriously injured people to Peshawar and added that some bodies might also have been taken away from the blast site.
Eyewitnesses in Parachinar said the first blast, which took place in the busy Turi Market where people were shopping for Eid, occurred minutes after an Al Quds Day rally had started dispersing at some distance from the scene of the attack.
Muhammad Hussain, who sustained injuries in the incident, told Dawn that he was heading for his poultry shop after the conclusion of the Al Quds rally when the first blast took place.
Another explosion shook the area soon after a large number of people rushed to the site to help the injured.
“I lost consciousness after the second blast and later found myself on a hospital bed,” Hussain said.
Kausar Ali, younger brother of Dawn Peshawar's senior correspondent Zulfiqar Ali, also lost his life in the Parachinar blast.
Kausar, who ran his business in the market, had rushed to the blast site to help the injured after the first explosion and died in the second blast.