June 24 (UPI) — Dozens of people were killed and more than 200 injured following a sequence of attacks on three of Pakistan’s major cities on Friday.
At least 80 people were killed in three separate attacks, as a suicide bomber detonated a car near the police chief’s office in Quetta, a pair of explosions targeted a market in Parachinar and armed men opened fire on police in Karachi.
The suicide bomber detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle near a police chief’s office, killing at least 13 people, including seven police officers.
A local affiliate of the Islamic State and a breakaway faction of Pakistan’s Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
The same day, two consecutive bomb blasts ripped through a market in Parachinar, as people shopped for the Eid al-Fitr feast at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The explosions killed at least 57 people.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif condemned the attacks as the death tolls continued to rise.
“These cowardly attacks are a sign of growing frustration of terrorists and extremists who have even targeted innocent civilians during the holy month of Ramadan,” he said. “Such elements deserve no mercy and will meet their fate soon in view of the unflinching and united resolve of the entire nation against terrorism and extremism.”
