U.S. Condemns Terrorist Attacks In Pakistan

The United States has “strongly” condemned the June 23 terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s cities of Parachinar and Quetta that left at least 85 dead.

The Sunni extremist group Lashkar-e Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the blasts at a crowded market in the northwestern town of Parachinar, a predominantly Shi'ite town in the Kurram Tribal Agency.

In the southwestern city of Quetta, 13 people, including seven policemen, were killed and 20 injured in a suicide car bombing. Two different militant groups -- a breakaway Taliban faction and the Islamic State -- claimed the Quetta attack.

The White House said in a statement issued on June 25 that these attacks, which it said deliberately targeted civilians, “are a strong reminder of the threat posed throughout the region by the scourge of terrorism.”

“We stand with the people of Pakistan in their fight against it,” the statement added.