17 killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

Seventeen people have been killed in a suicide bombing in north-west Pakistan.

Shiite Muslims were targeted in the blast in the town of Parachinar close to the Afghan border, said a local government official.

He initially said the bomb was close to a mosque, but he later confirmed it was in a market.

A local Taliban commander claimed responsibility for the attack in Parachinar, justifying it by saying that Shiites had been attacking Sunnis.