Pakistan ( 39 people killed in a bombing in a crowded market )

ISLAMABAD – Thirty-nine people were killed and more than 100 others wounded Friday when two bombs were detonated at a crowded market in the northwestern town of Parachinar, Pakistan’s Dawn television reported, citing official sources.

The bombs, which were placed at opposite ends of the market, went off within an interval of around 4 minutes.

Parachinar is the seat of Kurram, one of the seven Tribal Agencies located along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

The attack came as the market was packed with people shopping for food to prepare the “iftar” meal that breaks the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

Never fully under the control of Islamabad, the Tribal Agencies have become a haven for the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaeda members and other Muslim militants.

The tribal region’s substantial population of Shi’ite Muslims is frequently the target of sectarian attacks by fundamentalist followers of the majority Sunni strand of Islam. EFE