Blast in NW Pakistan's vegetable market kills 31

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At least 31 people were killed and 50 wounded when a bomb hidden in a carton of vegetables ripped through a crowded marketplace in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal region on Friday, officials said.

The attack took place during the regular Friday bazaar in Kalaya, a town in a Shiite-dominated area of Orakzai tribal district, when a suicide bomber drove a motorcycle into a crowd of people before detonating his explosives.

"31 people had been killed," said senior official Ameen Ullah, adding that, "More than 50 people were wounded, 17 of them are in critical condition."

The blast occurred around the same time three attackers tried to storm the Chinese consulate in the southern port city of Karachi, killing two policemen.

The Karachi attack was claimed by a separatist insurgent group called the Balochistan Liberation Army.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack in Orakzai.

Madrassa Bazar Orakzai tribal district after the blast. /Photo via Twitter

Three children were among those killed in the blast, Geo TV quoted local sources as saying.

Orakzai was formerly a semi-autonomous part of Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun tribal area along the Afghan border.

The region was for decades a refuge for Islamist militants fighting in Afghanistan, and more recently against the Pakistani state.

(Top image: Madrassa Bazar in Orakzai tribal district after the blast. /Photo via Twitter)

(With inputs from agencies)

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