- Title: Bomb near mosque in northwest Pakistan kills at least 22, wounds dozens
- Date: 31st March 2017
- Summary: LAHORE, PAKISTAN (MARCH 31, 2017) (REUTERS) WORSHIPPERS OUTSIDE MOSQUE PROTESTERS AND CHILDREN HOLDING PLACARDS PLACARD READING (Urdu): "PARACHINAR BLEEDING, PROTEST, PROTEST" PROTESTERS CHANTING SLOGANS AGAINST GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS CHANTING SHIA SLOGANS SHIA CLERIC, MOHAMMAD TAUQEER ABBAS, ADDRESSING CROWD PROTESTERS CHANTING (Urdu): "LABBAIK YA HUSSEIN" (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) SHIA CLERIC, MOHAMMAD TAUQEER ABBAS, SAYING: "This is an incident of terrorism and a particular sect has been targeted. The government should take action, the army should look into it." PROTESTERS LISTENING
- Embargoed: 14th April 2017 16:16
- Keywords: Pakistan blast aftermath wounded mourning protests Islamist militants mosque Taliban
- Location: PARACHINAR AND LAHORE, PAKISTAN
- City: PARACHINAR AND LAHORE, PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Bombing (non-military),Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0036AAKWNB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART OF THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
A bomb apparently targeting a mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Parachinar killed at least 22 people on Friday (March 31) and wounded 70 in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
The explosion in a remote area bordering Afghanistan came as people gathered for Friday prayers near the women's entrance of a Shia mosque in the central bazaar, the latest in a series of attacks across Sunni-majority Pakistan this year.
The banned Islamist militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, said the blast was part of its operation Ghazi, named after a radical Islamist leader killed by Pakistani security forces in 2007.
Following a string of earlier incidents this year, the latest attack adds to fears of an increase in sectarian violence in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state of some 200 million people. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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