1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Deadly Pakistan bombings

July 1, 2013

Three bombings across Pakistan have left dozens dead and many more injured. The first two bombings targeted military convoys. Later, a suicide bombing occurred near a Shiite mosque in the country's southeast.

https://p.dw.com/p/18ylZ
Security officials collect evidence at the site of a bomb attack in the outskirts of Peshawar on Sunday. (Photo: Fayez Aziz/Reuters)
Image: Reuters

Violence escalated in Pakistan late Sunday when twin blasts in the southeast city of Quetta doubled the death toll from attacks earlier in the day.

Authorities said at least 50 people had been killed in total, and scores were injured in Sunday's violence.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence.

Twin blasts occurred in Quetta just hours after reports of deadly attacks had emanated from the country's north earlier on Sunday. Those blasts killed at least 28 people. Initial reports inidicated a suicide bomber had detonated explosives near a Shiite mosque. It remained unclear where the second blast had occurred.

Earlier in the day, a car bomb detonated in the northwest city of Peshawar as a convoy of paramilitary troops passed by. The majority of the 17 victims were civilians, according to authorities.

"The car bomb was parked in a market packed with the general public. When the [Frontier Corps] convoy comprising of three vehicles passed by, the bomb exploded and hit a vehicle in the convoy," police official Shafiullah Khan told the news agency AFP, adding the blast had coincided with a peaks hours at the market.

Later in the day, a roadside bomb hit a military vehicle travelling in the North Waziristan district, a semi-autonomous region controlled by many Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

The explosion, which heavily damaged nearby shops, killed at least four military personnel and injured more than 10 people.

The latest string of violence coincided with British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to the capital city, Islamabad, where he pledged to aid Pakistan in its fights against rising sectarian and gang-related violence.

"The enemies of Pakistan are enemies of Britain, and we will stand together and conduct this fight against extremism and terrorism together," Cameron told reporters at a joint news conference with his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif.

Cameron pledged to provide Pakistan with more equipment to battle terrorist activity, according to the news agency Associated Press.

kms/dr (AFP, AP, dpa)