A bomb exploded at a market in a mainly Shiite area of Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 40 others, officials said. The bomb detonated in a crowded vegetable market in Parachinar city, the capital of Kurram tribal district on the Afghan border. Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, governor for Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province confirmed the death toll in a televised interview with Pakistan's private news broadcaster Geo. In a telephone call to AFP, the Hakimullah Mehsud faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack. In December 2015 an IED blast at the same market killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 30.

Source: Egypt Independent January 21, 2017 10:18 UTC