Parachinar blast claims 37 lives: Interior Ministry

CNews ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry confirmed that at least 37 people were killed in Parachinar suicide blast Saturday outside an election office of an independent candidate backed by PPP. "The death toll is now 37," interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said after the attack in the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar, bordering Afghanistan.The ministry confirmed that the blast was suicide attack. "Twenty-one people died and 93 were injured. It's a very severe emergency, a lot of the wounded are in a critical condition," a doctor at the main hospital in Parachinar was quoted as saying earlier. A correspondent of an international news agency present at the hospital said he had counted at least 21 dead bodies. Talking to media, a security official earlier said that a suicide bomber attacked a Pakistan People's Party meeting outside the party office in Parachinar. "A man with long hair drove a car into the crowd and blew himself up," a witness added. Another security official said the blast happened outside the office of local PPP candidate Riaz Hussain in Parachinar, the main town in the Kurram tribal region. In a separate incident in the nearby Bajaur tribal area militants blew up a polling station with a timebomb, police said.