Yom-e-Ashura: 6 killed, over 90 injured in Pakistan bomb attack on Muharram eve

At least six persons were killed and nearly 90 others injured today when Pakistani Taliban targeted a Shia procession with a bomb at Dera Ismail Khan in the restive northwest, on Ashura, the holiest day for the minority community.

The attack was the second to strike the city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in as many days.

The bomb, planted in a shop in Chogla area of Dera Ismail Khan, was triggered by remote-control as a procession was passing by.

A security personnel was among the six persons killed in the attack, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.

Four security personnel, women and children were among the injured.

Several of the wounded were in a critical condition.

Yesterday, eight persons were killed and about 20 injured when another Shia procession was targeted with a roadside bomb in Dera Ismail Khan.

The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for both bombings in the city as well as a suicide attack on a Shia procession in Rawalpindi that killed 23 people and injured over 60 on Wednesday.

Authorities called in army soldiers to patrol the streets of Dera Ismail Khan after the attacks.

The bombings caused widespread panic in the city.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan told the media that his organisation had carried out today's attack.

He claimed a suicide bomber was in the procession in Dera Ismail Khan though officials insisted the attack was carried out with a bomb.

Ihsan said the Taliban would succeed in striking their targets despite all security arrangements made by Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Provincial Information Minister Hussain said the Taliban had apparently planned the attack in Dera Ismail Khan well in advance as authorities had closed all shops and markets and suspended mobile phone services in the city.

The bomb was planted in a closed shop on the route of the Shia procession and triggered by remote control, he said.

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