Market bombings death toll climbing

PARACHINAR (AP):The death toll from a pair of overnight bombings at a busy market in a Shi'ite-dominated region of northwest Pakistan rose to 57, officials said yesterday.

As many as 167 people were also wounded in last Friday's apparent sectarian attacks in the town of Parachinar, which sits in the Kurram tribal area that borders Afghanistan to the west, hospital official Shabir Hussain and Shi'ite leader Hamid Ali said.

Hussain said almost all the dead and wounded were Shi'ites.

There was no claim of responsibility, but authorities have blamed militant groups belonging to the Sunni Muslim majority for previous gun and bomb attacks against the Shi'ite minority.

Ali said the market was full of Shi'ites, who were buying items for their evening meal that breaks the daytime fast during the holy month of Ramadan.