[ad_1]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suicide bomb attack on a crowded festival and market in northwestern Pakistan left at least 25 dead and 20 wounded, a government official said.
The explosion occurred about the same time that three attackers attempted to storm the Chinese consulate in Karachi, in the south of the country. Two policemen and three attackers were killed.
The Karachi attack was claimed by a group of separatist insurgents, the Baluchistan Liberation Army, and did not seem to be linked to the market attack in the region. Orakzai, in the north-west of the country.
In Orakzai, a suicide bomber drove a motorcycle in a crowd going to a festival and a market that attracts people from different religious communities before detonating his explosives.
No group has claimed responsibility.
"It was a suicide blast at the festival that takes place every Friday," said Abbas Khan, the district deputy commissioner, told Reuters.
Khan said that among the 25 dead were three members of the minority Sikh community and two security officials.
The Geo TV channel showed footage of military officials circling the bomb site.
Orakzai was once a semi-autonomous part of the Pakistani ethnic Pashtun tribal area along the Afghan border.
The area has been for decades a haven for Islamist militants fighting in Afghanistan and, more recently, against the Pakistani state.
The Pakistani army stepped up its operations along the border in 2009 and managed to eliminate some areas of the militants.
The tribal areas were incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in May.
Additional report by Saud Mehsud; Written by Saad Sayeed; Edited by Neil Fullick
