The banned Sunni Islamist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s bomb-attack in the Pakistan’s northwestern city of Parachinar that killed 24 people and injured 70 others.
Ali bin Sufyan, spokesman for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi said, This is revenge for the killing of Muslims by the Syrian president and Iran. Sufyan said Parachinar residents should not travel to Iran or Syria to fight in the war there on behalf of the Shi’ites. He was speaking to Reuters by phone.
Earlier last week Reuters reported that a Shi’ite unit of Pakistani fighters known as the Zeinabiyoun were joining the war against Islamic State in Syria. Many come from Parachinar, which has a large Shi’ite population, unusual in Sunni-majority Pakistan. LeJ’s sectarian ideology is closely aligned with Islamic State.
Parachinar, the administrative headquarters of Kurram, is one of the most sensitive tribal Agency near Afghan border of Pakistan.