The death toll from twin suicide blasts, which struck a busy market in Parachinar on Friday, July 26, has jumped to 57 as more of the injured succumbed to their wounds later, geo.tv reported.

The suicide bombers came on motorbikes and blew themselves up in the Parachinar bazaar, where around 400 persons were busy shopping for Iftar in the narrow roadside markets.

Riaz Mehsud, the political agent in Kurram agency, confirmed the latest death toll.

“One suicide bomber blew himself up first in one corner of the bazaar and a minute later the second bomber carried out the attack in another corner, causing widespread destruction,” he said.

He said all the injured had been shifted to the public sector Agency Headquarters Hospital in Parachinar where emergency had already been declared and all hospital staff called for duty.

“We received 72 injured persons and among them more than a dozen are in critical condition. We may shift them to Peshawar for better treatment,” said Dr Gul Hussain from Parachinar on phone.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), through one of its front organizations, claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Talking to reporters from an undisclosed location by phone, a spokesman for the proscribed TTP’s sub-network, Ansarul Mujahideen, said it was behind the bombings. The spokesman, Abu Baseer claimed responsibility for the twin blasts in Parachinar. “The suicide bombers of Ansarul Mujahideen carried out the twin suicide attacks in Parachinar on Friday and the target were members of the Shia community,” the spokesman claimed.

He said the attacks were carried out to seek revenge of alleged atrocities by the Shia community on Sunni Muslims in Syria and Iraq. “We have planned more similar attacks against the Shia community in Pakistan to seek revenge of the brutalities of Shia on Sunni Muslims in Syria and Iraq,” Abu Baseer warned.