Vegetable market blast kills 20 in Pakistan

An explosion in a busy vegetable market killed at least 21 people on Saturday (January 21) in Pakistan’s remote northwestern tribal region, an official said.

About 40 others were wounded in the blast in Kurram region, near the border with Afghanistan.

A local national assembly member said the dead were all tribal people and there would be a mass funeral and then a demonstration over the attack.

Reports differed on the cause of the explosion — some attributed it to a homemade bomb and others a suicide bomber. Taliban militants have been active around Parachinar in the past, and the town has also suffered sectarian tension between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.

The wounded were helped to hospital in cars and private trucks.

A statement from Pakistan’s military said army helicopters had been dispatched to evacuate the wounded.