Nature of blast undetermined; eyewitnesses say explosive material may have been hidden in a vegetable cart which went off
\nour correspondent
\nPARACHINAR
\nA blast ripped through a market in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city of Parachinar on Thursday, leaving several injured, according to police.
\nPolice said the blast took place in the city\u2019s Turi Bazaar, a crowded marketplace which has in the past been a frequent target of terrorist attacks.
\nThe nature of the blast has not yet been determined. Eyewitnesses told Geo News explosive material may have been hidden in a vegetable cart which went off.
\nSeventeen people have been brought wounded for treatment, said hospital staff, including a child. Deputy Medical Superintendent (DMS) Parachinar Hospital Dr Qaiser Hasan said that two among the wounded are critically injured.
\nLeader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast, saying \u201cterrorists seek to target citizens and leave Pakistan in the grip of terror\u201d.
\n\u201cThe whole nation is united against the enemies of Pakistan,\u201d he said.
\nThe PML-N president extended his heartfelt condolences to the affected families and prayed for the early recovery of those injured.
\nPPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned the attack and expressed concern over the rise of such incidents of terrorism in the country.
\n\u201cTerrorists have been emboldened due to a lack of implementation of the National Action Plan,\u201d he said.
\nBilawal directed all PPP representatives present in Parachinar to come to the aid of those injured. He demanded that those involved be immediately arrested.
\nFollowing the blast, protesters gathered around the press club and staged a demonstration, urging the government to provide better security to the city.
\nThe Turi bazaar area used to have a single track for vehicular traffic which was recently widened and split to keep apart incoming and outgoing traffic.
\nDespite similar incidents in the past, vendors selling their wares on carts are a common sight, and the carts are targeted by terrorist elements for such attacks.
\nFurthermore, such carts are found on both sides of the road and attract large volumes of people.
\nThe year 2017 in particular was a bloody year for Parachinar. The city saw a number of attacks throughout the year, the worst of which were back-to-back blasts on June 23 which left more than 70 dead and at least 300 injured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nature of blast undetermined; eyewitnesses say explosive material may have been hidden in a vegetable cart which went off our correspondent PARACHINAR A blast ripped through a market in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city of Parachinar on Thursday, leaving several injured, according to police. Police said the blast took place in the city\u2019s Turi Bazaar, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n