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.