Islamic State group claims deadly market bombing in Pakistan

IS has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at a food market in Pakistan.

1 min read

25 November, 2018

Dozens of people died in the attack [Getty]

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for suicide attack at an open-air food market that killed at least 35 people in northwestern Pakistan.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency says Friday's attack targeted "apostate Shias" in the Orakzai region near the Afghan border.

On Friday, Pakistani police announced a powerful bomb at an open-air food market in the country's northwest. The attack happened just hours after armed separatists stormed the Chinese Consulate in the southern port city of Karachi.

Local police official Tahir Ali at the time said the market attack took place in the town of Klaya, in the Orakzai region of the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

He said most of the victims were minority Shias Muslims.

Local authorities to declare an emergency at the region's hospitals to handle the situation.

Orakzai has been the scene of militant attacks in recent years, mostly claimed by Pakistani Sunni militants.

Sunni extremists have repeatedly targeted Shias on both sides of the border in recent years. IS has claimed several attacks in Pakistan, where authorities deny it has an organised presence.