A bomb blast in north-western Pakistan killed at least 21 people on Saturday and wounded dozens others, local officials said. The blast occurred in a crowded vegetable market in the Parachinar area of Kurrum Agency, located near the Afghan border. "The number of dead has risen to 21," said Javed Hussain from Kurrum Agency Headquarters Hospital. He said that 50 people had been admitted to the hospital for treatment. Fifteen critically injured people were moved to a neighbouring province for treatment. Senior government official Ikramullah Khan said that a state of emergency has been declared in the area. The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility and said it was a suicide attack, contradicting reports from the military that the bomb was planted. "This blast is a revenge for killings of our people in fake police encounters," TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani said in a statement. A statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, said the improvised explosive device (IED) blast took place at 8:50 am (0330 GMT). Quick reaction forces had reached the site and cordoned off the area, it added. Kurrum is one of seven semi-autonomous agencies of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in north-western Pakistan. Parachinar, capital of the agency, is a hub of sectarian turf war in which around 4,000 people have been killed in the last six years. The agency is one of the sensitive tribal areas which borders Afghanistan provinces. Once a stronghold of the Taliban, the Pakistani army launched an operation against them in 2008 and flushed out militants from area. "Terrorists will fail in their attempt to regain lost relevance," the ISPR said. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra vowed to continue the war on terror until the last terrorist is eliminated. Militants cannot lower the courage of nation with such cowardly attacks, he said.
