Bomb blast kills 11 in NW Pakistan

A car bomb targeting security forces in a market area in northwest Pakistan on Monday killed 11 people and wounded more than 40, officials said. An explosives-laden vehicle exploded near a convoy of security forces in a market in Parachinar town of Kurram tribal district, senior administration official Sahibzada Mohammad Anis told AFP. "The death toll is 11," he said updating the earlier figure of 10. There are more than 40 wounded, 20 of them are in serious condition, he added. Kurram is one of seven districts in Pakistan's tribal belt on the Afghan border that is home to Taliban and Al-Qaida strongholds. "The car detonated as a security convoy passed by in the Turi Market" of the town dominated by the minority Shiite Muslim community, Anis said. It was not immediately clear if it was a suicide attack, he said, adding that an investigation was underway. Two intelligence officials confirmed the casualties. The target seemed to have been security forces' convoy, one intelligence official said. The blast destroyed 30 shops and damaged 50 others in the busy commercial area, Anis said, adding that the site was littered with rubble, concrete slabs, and twisted metal. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants have been carrying out similar bombings and suicide attacks in the province neighboring Afghanistan. The town has also seen sectarian violence between majority Sunni and Shiite sects. Attacks blamed on Islamists have killed more than 5,200 people in Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in the capital Islamabad five years ago, according to an AFP tally. The latest blast came a week after a suicide car bomber rammed a U.S. consulate vehicle in the provincial capital Peshawar last Monday, killing at least two people. Up to 19 people were wounded when the bomber struck during morning rush hour in the northwestern city of Peshawar near the office of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and residential quarters used by the US consulate. Taliban and Al-Qaida-linked militant groups who are sworn enemies of the United States frequently carry out attacks and have strongholds in the tribal belt near Peshawar. Islamist militants have vowed to avenge American drone strikes targeting them in the semi-autonomous tribal areas and thwart a rumored prospective Pakistani offensive in North Waziristan. The United States moved Friday to blacklist the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, whose leaders are understood to be based in Pakistan, as a terrorist group, blamed for bloody attacks in Afghanistan, despite concerns about straining ties with Islamabad.