PESHAWAR: Shias in Pakistan’s northwest protested Monday as the death toll from twin blasts in last week rose to 69, marking a grisly Eid for the town worst hit by militancy so far in 2017. Dozens of protesters offered their Eid prayers wearing black armbands in the market in Parachinar, where the bombs tore through crowds of shoppers on Friday, local officials said. “The death toll from Friday’s blasts has reached 69,” local administration official Basir Khan Wazir told AFP. He said the local administration was trying to negotiate with the protestors. Parachinar, capital of Kurram district, had already suffered two deadly bomb blasts in its markets this year. It was the site of the first major attack in the country in 2017 when a bomb killed 24 people in January. In March, a second attack in another market killed a further 22 people. Friday’s assault brought the town’s loss of life due to extremist attacks up to 115, more than any one city in Pakistan has suffered so far this year. “We have been a constant target of the militants but the government has always failed us,” Muzamil Hussain, a Shia activist from Parachinar told AFP Friday. Authorities have said that after the first two attacks checkposts and barriers were set up around the city’s markets. Hussain said that suggested Friday’s attackers had insider help. “I don’t understand how can someone drive a bomb-laden vehicle through all the checkposts of the military and other paramilitary troops and reach here, it simply isn’t logical, and this is what we are protesting against,” he said. Shias in other parts of the country also wore black bands in solidarity with those grieving in Parachinar, the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen said in a statement. Published in Daily Times, June 29th, 2017.