The two attacks on opposite sides of the country were likely unconnected, but they underlined the myriad security challenges that Pakistan faces
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people at a market in northern Pakistan just hours after gunmen assaulted the Chinese Consulate in the southern city of Karachi, killing four.
The two attacks on opposite sides of the country were likely unconnected, but they underlined the myriad security challenges that Pakistan faces, including those from separatists as well as from the Pakistani Taliban based in the northern border regions.
The attacker in the northern Orakzai district drove a motorcycle into the heart of a weekly market in the town of Kalaya and detonated his explosives, according to Reuters. Local health officials said that at least 30 people were killed in the blast and that more than 50 others were injured, 30 of them seriously. Authorities said most of the victims were minority Shiite Muslims.
Pakistani authorities have long battled militants in these remote regions near the Afghan border. The region has also been marked by tension between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and the blast was near a Shiite mosque that may have been the target.
Video images from the scene showed volunteers and rescue officials recovering bodies from the weekly Friday market, where people had been buying vegetables, household items and warm clothes when the blast took place.
“There was a big bang that rocked the whole town. Nothing was clear in the smoke, and there were cries and screams from the market,” said Ashraf Ullah, 42, a local merchant.
