Funeral of Parachinar victims today

PARACHINAR: The funeral of the victims who died on Friday in a suicide attack here will be offered today in their ancestral areas, Geo News reported. Business hubs and markets of the area are closed in mourning.

Thirty people were killed and around 54 others injured in a suicide attack and subsequent firing by security forces on those who protested the incident at a busy market outside a mosque in Parachinar city, the headquarters of Kurram Agency on Friday.

Militant commander Fazal Saeed Haqqani, who had recently quit the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by Hakimullah Mahsud and formed his own faction, the TTP Islahi, claimed responsibility for the Parachinar attack.

He said the Shia community was the target as it was allegedly taking sides and backing the government and armed forces in the ongoing military operation against them in Kurram Agency.