PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Twin blasts in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar killed 33 people and wounded 70 yesterday, a week after bombings at a church there killed scores, police and hospital authorities said.
Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Taliban.
The blasts outside a police station hit an area known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers’ bazaar, crowded with shoppers. Police said they thought at least one of the explosions in the city close to the Afghan border had been caused by a car bomb.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid condemned the attack.
