At least 23 people were killed and over 70 others injured today when a powerful bomb ripped through a second-hand clothes market in a Shia-dominated area in northwest Pakistan's restive tribal region near the Afghan border, an attack claimed by a sectarian outfit.
The blast occurred in Parachinar in Kurram agency when the market was filled with a large number of people who were buying used and second-hand winter clothes.
Security forces reached the spot and cordoned off the area and evidence was being gathered from the crime scene.
"At least 23 have died and more than 70 were injured," said Amjad Ali Khan, the political administrator of Kurram.
Sectarian outfit lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami claimed responsibility for the attack.
"We claim responsibility for the Eidgah Bazar, Parachinar bomb blast. It was a revenge of the crimes against Syrian Muslims by Iran and Bashar al Assad," the group's spokesperson Ali Abu Sufiyan was quoted as saying by Express Tribune.
In a statement, the group warned of more attacks "if the people in Parachinar did not stop sending people to take part in Syrian war".
Meanwhile, two suspects were taken into custody from the blast site. Police said the bomb was hidden in a cloth bale.
"It was a timed device bomb. Around 30 to 35 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the blast," a Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official was quoted as saying by media reports.
The injured were shifted to agency headquarters hospital in Parachinar for medical assistance.
A doctor at the hospital where the wounded were taken said most of the injured were in a "critical condition" and the death toll could rise.
Emergency was declared in all hospitals in Parachinar. The market, where used winter clothes are sold, is located near the entry point of Parachinar town.
The army evacuated 23 seriously injured blast victims to Peshawar in two helicopters.
The agency is adjacent to North Waziristan where Operation Zarb-i-Azb is in progress against the Pakistani Taliban and other insurgent groups.
Parachinar is the administrative headquarters of the agency near the Afghan border. It is a small garrison town with a total population of about 40,000 comprising people of different tribes, races and faiths.