2nd LD Writethru: 7 killed, 30 injured as blast hits market area in NW Pakistan

At least seven people including women and kids were killed and 30 others injured when a blast hit a market area in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Parachinar Friday morning, local Urdu media reported.

Local officials told reporters that the explosion ripped through the central Noor Market of Parachinar in the Kurram Agency located along Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Senator Sajid Turi, a lawmaker from the area, said the explosive materials were fixed inside a car parked near a Shia mosque in the market.

The injured have been shifted to nearby hospitals where a state of emergency has been declared. Hospital sources said at least 10 among the injured are in critical conditions.

Around 15 nearby shops were damaged in the blast. Security forces rushed to the site and cordoned it off.

Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of Pakistani army, said a disaster relief helicopter has been dispatched to the blast site.

The helicopter will be used to shift seriously injured people to hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

No group has claimed the attack yet.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast and vowed to eradicate militancy from the country.

In late January, a market in Parachinar was jolted by a suicide bomb, which left 25 dead and 65 injured. Outlawed organization Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed the January's attack. Endit