Death toll in Pakistan attacks climbs to 56

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The death toll from twin blasts in the northwestern town of Parachinar climbed to 55 overnight, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks in Pakistan on Friday to 73, with several others in critical condition, officials said.

The twin blasts in Parachinar followed a bombing earlier in the day in Quetta, capital of insurgency-wracked Balochistan province, that killed at least 13 people.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts. Separately in the evening, three militants riding on two motorbikes killed four policemen in a restaurant in Karachi. He said two police officers were wounded in the gunbattle.

LeJ's Al Alami faction said in a statement it was targeting minority Shi'ite Muslims and threatened more attacks over Pakistanis fighting against Sunni militants in Syria's civil war.

Shahid Khan, a government official in Parachinar, said Saturday that numerous victims of the attacks are in critical condition.

Shahid Khan, a government official in Parachinar, said Saturday that numerous victims of the attacks are in critical condition.

Parachinar is located about 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Peshawar.

"62 other seriously wounded people have been shifted to Peshawar", he added. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attacks, saying terrorists were attacking soft targets.

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Death toll in Quetta bomb blast has risen to twelve.

TV reports showed shattered windows of nearby buildings, damaged vehicles and bloodied pieces of human flesh littered the area.

The attack was claimed by both the local affiliate of the Islamic State group and by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, according to the SITE monitoring group, though there was no immediate explanation for the dual claims.

The group is believed to be linked to sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Janghvi (LeJ), responsible for many attacks across Pakistan. It also released a photograph of the alleged attacker, identified as Abu Othman al-Khorasani.

Anwarul Haq Kakar, Ba lochistan government spokesperson, said the blast occurred when officers stopped the auto for search at a checkpoint.

On Thursday, Pakistan said that an Indian naval officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and sabotage, had petitioned for mercy.

Baluchistan has always been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists and separatists, who want a bigger share of the regional resources or outright independence, but also attacks blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and others.

The United States, Turkey, Arab and European powers are also participating in a coalition bombing Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim militant group.

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