At least 10 people, including six children and two women, were killed and nearly 13 people were gravely injured on Tuesday in a blast in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal region. According to reports, a passenger van was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb in Kontara village in central Kurram Agency.
Inter Services Public Relations, Pakistan military's media wing, said a special Mi-17 helicopter was sent to the Kurram Agency headquarters in Parachinar, the capital of Kurram district, to shift the injured people to Peshawar for treatment.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif and interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the tragic blast and instructed authorities to provide best medical facilities to the injured.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. The security officials have cordoned off the blast site and an investigation is underway. In recent months, the Kurram Agencyhas been frequently targeted by sectarian violence.
Last month, nearly 28 people were killed and 100 others were injured in the same region after a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a Shiite imambargah in a busy market in Parachinar. Later, Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Another attack at the town's vegetable market, located near the border with Afghanistan, killed at least 21 people in January. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban said it carried out both attacks.
Parachinar is a mainly Shia area and the Kurram district is known for sectarian clashes. The recent violence in the region has resulted in angry protests by the residents.
In February, more than 80 people were killed and dozens were wounded in an attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) group on a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan.
