On 23 June 2017, a series of

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

attacks took place in Pakistan resulting in 96 dead and over 200 wounded. They included a

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

targeting

policemen A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of t ...

, followed by a double bombing at a market in

Parachinar Parachinar (; ) is a city and the capital of the Kurram District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Parachinar is situated on the west of Peshawar, that juts into the Paktia, Logar and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. With ...

, and the targeted killing of four policemen in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. Responsibility for the Quetta attack was claimed by

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (, "Assembly of the Free," abbreviated as JuA) was a terrorist organization that split away from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in August 2014. The group came to prominence after it claimed responsibility for the 2014 Wagah border su ...

and

ISIL The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

, while no group accepted responsibility for the Parachinar attack. According to the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, both attacks were coordinated from terrorist sanctuaries in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Background

The attacks followed earlier blasts that had occurred in Quetta and Parachinar in 2017: Quetta on 13 February and

21 April Events Pre-1600 *753 BC – Romulus founds Rome ( traditional date). *43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered s ...

; and Parachinar on

21 January Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. *1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conr ...

and

31 March Events Pre-1600 * 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian. * 1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging ...

. In response to these and other attacks, the Pakistani military had launched

Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad (; ) was a combined military operation by the Pakistani military in support of local law enforcement agencies to disarm and eliminate the terrorist sleeper cells across all states of Pakistan, started on 22 Februa ...

in February which aimed to eliminate the "residual/latent threat of terrorism". A period of relative calm followed in between, although

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

witnessed minor violence in June when three security personnel were injured from an

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional warfare, conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached t ...

targeting their vehicle, and two

sailors A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

were killed after their vehicle was targeted in

Jiwani Jiwani (Urdu, ) is a town and commercial port located on the Gulf of Oman in the Gwadar District of the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The town has a population of 25,332 and is expected to become a major commercial centre in concert with the d ...

. The bombings were carried out on

Jumu'atul-Wida Jumu'atul-Wida ( meaning ''Friday of farewell'', also called al-Jumu'ah al-Yateemah or ''the orphaned Friday'' Urdu: Al-Widaa Juma) is the last Friday in the month of Ramadan before Eid al-Fitr. This is a holy day for Muslims. Muslims ask for ...

, the last Friday of the Hijri month of

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

before the

Eid ul-Fitr Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the ...

celebrations.

Attacks

Quetta bombing

Earlier in the day, a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

ing took place at 08:45 at the Shuhada

Chowk Chowk may refer to: Website * Chowk.com, a website about current affairs, politics and cultural aspects of India and Pakistan Localities In Bangladesh * Chowk Bazaar, a bazaar in Lalbagh In India * Chowk, Allahabad, a locality/township of Alla ...

's Gulistan Road targeting policemen. The attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a peripheral wall of the Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob's office, but it failed to

explode An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

. The policemen present at the site, unaware of the fact that the car was rigged with

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...

s, recovered the vehicle from the wall and brought it to Shuhada Chowk. They ordered the driver — the would-be bomber, to get down and began searching the vehicle. The bomber refused to descend and instead triggered the explosives. At least 14 people including seven policemen were killed; 20 others including four military personnel, a woman, and a girl were injured. A checkpoint on Mission Road Chowk was destroyed by the blast. Two four-wheelers,

rickshaw Rickshaw originally denoted a pulled rickshaw, which is a two- or three-wheeled cart generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also known as pedicabs or tr ...

s and motorcycles each were also destroyed and a vehicle carrying military personnel was damaged in the bombing. The shock-wave of the blast smashed windows of several buildings in the neighbourhood and brought down the walls of a nearby girls' school.

Parachinar bombings

Hours after the bombing in Quetta, two back-to-back blasts hit the Turi Market near Tal Adda in

city of

FATA The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly known as FATA, was a autonomous administrative division, semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan that existed from Independence Day (Pakistan), 1947 until being merged with the ...

Kurram Agency Kurram District () is a district in the Kohat Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The name Kurram comes from the river ''Kwarma'' () in Pashto, which itself derives from the Sanskrit word ''Krumu'' (). Until 2018, it functi ...

. Parachinar is a predominately

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

-populated town, located near the Afghan border. The first blast took place in the evening around 17:00

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

in Turi Market, located just outside of the city's recently designated Red Zone. The explosive device was planted in the market, where many people were busy shopping for Eid. The second explosion targeted rescuers and bystanders, as they rushed to help the survivors of the first blast. A suicide bomber detonated the explosives strapped to his body. At least 72 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured in the twin bombings.

Karachi targeted killings

Separately in Karachi, unidentified gunmen opened fire on four

whilst they were observing

iftar ''Iftar'' () is the Fasting in Islam, fast-breaking Supper, evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan at the time of ' (call to prayer) of the Maghrib prayer. Iftar is the second meal of the day; during Ramadan, the daily fast begins immediately a ...

in the evening at a roadside restaurant in

SITE Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typical ...

, killing them on the spot.

Response and aftermath

In Quetta, the local police, Balochistan Constabulary and

Frontier Corps The Frontier Corps (, reporting name: FC) are a group of four paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's b ...

personnel cordoned off the area. The casualties were shifted to the Civil Hospital where a state of emergency was declared. The injured military personnel were driven to the

Combined Military Hospital Combined Military Hospitals (, abbreviated as CMH) are Pakistan Armed Forces hospitals situated in various cantonments of Pakistan. History During the British Raj, the British Indian Army troops depended for their medical treatment entirely o ...

(CMH), Quetta. At least five of the injured sustained life-threatening injuries. The funeral prayers for the seven policemen were offered at the Police Lines, Quetta. In Parachinar, security forces sealed off the affected area and conducted a search operation in the adjoining areas following the blast. A state-of-emergency was imposed across all hospitals in Parachinar. According to the ISPR, the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

dispatched two helicopters from

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

to Parachinar "for the speedy evacuation of the injured to Peshawar" and airlifted 15 critically injured.

Investigation

According to Bomb Disposal Squad officials, 90 to 95 kilograms of explosives were used in the Quetta car bombing. While according to the Director General of Civil Defence, 75 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack. Authorities examined CCTV footage of the area to understand further details of the incident. According to

's Home Secretary Dr Akbar Harifal, security had been beefed up in Quetta and other areas of the province following the attack. According to the Director-General of ISPR, Major General

Asif Ghafoor Asif Ghafoor (Urdu: آصِف غفور ) is a retired three-star ranking general in the Pakistani Army, who most recently served as the president of the National Defence University uptill 2024. Previously, Ghafoor served as the Corps Commande ...

, security and surveillance of the Pakistan–Afghanistan border was enhanced with stringent actions against illegal border crossers, in the aftermath of the Parachinar attack.

Counterterrorist operations

On 24 June, police and military sources reported that five terrorists were killed and nine security personnel injured during an intelligence-based operation in Peshawar's Chamkani and

Mathra Mathra is a village in Kollam district in the Indian state of Kerala, located near the town of Punalur. It is the headquarters of Mathra Grama Panchayat, a fertile area in which many residents are engaged in farming.. It is surrounded by hill ...

areas. A "high profile terrorist commander" was reported amongst those killed.

Responsibility

Asad Mansoor, a spokesman of the banned

Tehrik-i-Taliban The Pakistani Taliban, officially the Tehreek-i-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current ...

splinter group), claimed his group was behind the Quetta bombing, while the militant

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

(ISIL) group also claimed responsibility, saying that one of its followers had carried out the attack. ISIL also released a photograph of the alleged attacker, identified as Abu Othman Khorasani. Anwarul Haq Kakar, a Balochistan government spokesman, said

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

had a role in the attack in Quetta. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Parachinar attack. Pakistan's interior minister

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan (; born 31 July 1954) is a Pakistani politician who served as the Ministry of Interior (Pakistan), Interior Minister from 2013 to 2017. He had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till ...

said such incidents always took place whenever Pakistan's border with Afghanistan was opened up. He added: "It is important that we police our borders effectively and protect them from outside threats." In Karachi, pamphlets belonging to an unknown militant group — Ansar al-Sharia Pakistan — were found on the crime scene. On 24 June, army chief

Qamar Javed Bajwa Qamar Javed Bajwa (; born 11 November 1960) is a retired Pakistani four-star general who served as the tenth chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan from 29 November 2016 to 29 November 2022. In 2018, he was ranked 68th in the ''Forbes'' list of ...

chaired a high-level meeting in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

and called on Afghanistan to "do more" in the fight against terrorism. According to the ISPR, the attacks in Quetta and Parachinar were linked to terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan which enjoyed the "patronage of Afghanistan's

National Directorate of Security The National Directorate of Security (NDS; ; ) was the national intelligence agency, intelligence and security agency, security service of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The headquarters of the NDS was in Kabul, and it had field offices and ...

(NDS) and India's spy agency

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Republic of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, and a ...

Reactions

Domestic

In Parachinar, protesters raided the Parachinar Press Club and severely wounded five journalists. The police then resorted to aerial firing to defuse the situation. Prime Minister Muhammad

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

condemned the terrorist attacks, and ordered for security measures to be tightened across the country. Sharif reiterated that "such acts of terrorism will be dealt with full power of the state" and added that "terrorists are attacking soft targets, and no Muslim can ever imagine to commit such horrific acts." President

Mamnoon Hussain Mamnoon Hussain (; 23 December 1940 – 14 July 2021) was a Pakistani politician and industrialist who served as the 12th president of Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. He was first appointed Governor of Sindh in June 1999 by President Rafiq Tarar ...

, Senate chairman

Raza Rabbani Mian Raza Rabbani ( Punjabi, Urdu: ; born 23 July 1953) is a Pakistani politician and lawyer who served as the 7th Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan from March 2015 to March 2018. He has been affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party since 1 ...

, Punjab chief minister

Shehbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

, Balochistan governor

Muhammad Khan Achakzai Muhammad Khan Achakzai (—; , born 1 January 1930) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 23rd Governor of Balochistan. Early life and education He’s the son of Abdul Samad Achakzai and the elder brother of Mahmood Khan Achakzai and ...

, former president

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 2024, having held the same office from 2008 to 2013. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the ...

and other figures also issued statements denouncing the terrorist incidents.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...

chairman

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

condemned the attacks, terming them "attacks against the nation".

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

chairman

Bilawal Bhutto Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (born 21 September 1988) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 37th Minister of Foreign Affairs, in office from 27 April 2022 to 10 August 2023. He became the chairman of Pakistan People's Party in 2007 following ...

also condemned the blasts, sending "prayers for the bereaved families".

International

* : United Nations Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

condemned the Quetta and Parachinar bombings and extended his condolences to the victims' families. He expressed "hopes

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

those responsible for these crimes will be swiftly brought to justice".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistan attacks, June 2017 June attacks 2017 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2017 in Sindh 2017 mass shootings in Asia June attacks 2017 road incidents in Asia 2010s crimes in Karachi 2010s crimes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2010s crimes in Quetta 21st century in Parachinar June 2017 attacks 2010s vehicle-ramming attacks Attacks on buildings and structures in Quetta Attacks on police stations in 2017 June 2017 attacks Islamic terrorist incidents in 2017 Jamaat-ul-Ahrar attacks June 2017 crimes in Asia Attacks Marketplace attacks in Pakistan Mass murder in 2017 Mass murder in Karachi Mass murder in Parachinar Mass murder in Quetta June 2017 attacks Massacres perpetrated by ISIL June 2017 attacks Suicide bombings in 2017 Suicide bombings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Suicide bombings in Parachinar Suicide bombings in Quetta June 2017 attacks Terrorist incidents in Karachi June attacks Terrorist incidents involving vehicular attacks in Asia Attacks on police stations in Pakistan