FATA : 15 people killed in two explosions in Parachinar

Kurram Agency‚ 15 people were killed and 200 injured in two bomb blasts in Parachinar this evening (Friday)Two explosions targeting Shi’ite mosques in Pakistan’s tribal area on the Afghan border killed at least 15 people on Friday, a doctor and witnesses said.

The first explosion took place just meters away from a Shi’ite mosque near a busy market in Parachinar, capital of the tribal Kurram area. It was followed closely by a second blast, outside another mosque in the town.

Sabir Hussain, a doctor at the Agency Headquarters Hospital, said 15 dead bodies and 45 people with serious wounds had been brought to his hospital.

Taliban-linked insurgents are a main source of instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan, but sectarian violence by Sunni militants, who see Shi’ites as heretics, has also been growing.

Parachinar has a significant Shi’ite population, who have previously been attacked by hardline Sunni militant groups.