'I saw body parts flying in the air': Bomb at Pakistan market kills at least 21 but Taliban insist they are honouring their ceasefireDevice was hidden inside a guava fruit box in the capital Islamabad
Body parts 'went everywhere' in deadliest attack on city in several yearsTaliban denied responsibility, blaming the bombing on 'hidden hands'Groups are currently in talks with government to end deadly fighting
By DAN BLOOM
PUBLISHED: 09:53 GMT, 9 April 2014 | UPDATED: 15:11 GMT, 9 April 2014
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A bomb has ripped through a market in Pakistan killing at least 21 people in the deadliest attack on the nation's capital in several years.
Officials said the device was hidden inside a box of guava fruit when it triggered the huge blast this morning, tearing traders' bodies apart and sending their limbs flying through the air.
The Taliban denied responsibility, blaming the blast on 'hidden hands', as negotiations continued with Pakistan's authorities to end fighting that has killed tens of thousands in the north west.
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Horror: A Pakistani boy mourns over the death of a family member outside a morgue in Islamabad today. A 5kg device hidden inside a crate of guava fruit killed at least 21 people in the deadliest attack on the city in years
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Checks: Armed police cordoned off the market and used metal detectors to scan several more containers
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Deaths: The body of one of the victims is carried in a casket from the morgue in Islamabad
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Blast: Residents transport the lifeless body of their relative, whose feet are visible from under a white sheet
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Mourning: Relatives receive news outside a hospital. The bomb went off even as negotiations continued
Police said around 5kg of explosives were hidden in the fruit carton and exploded as morning shoppers were buying supplies at the market, on the outskirts of Islamabad.
The power of the blast sent cartons of fruit and vegetables flying and left the ground littered with blood-stained sandals, guavas and prayer caps. Around 70 other people were injured.
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One trader, who gave his name only as Shaheen, said: 'Body parts went everywhere and even hit other people on the head.'
Another, Afzal Khan, said: 'People were dying. People were crying. People were running.'
Abdul Jalil, searching frantically for his brother whose phone was not ringing, said: 'The people were torn apart. Their body parts scattered.
'Who are these people killing innocent people? What do they get out of it? God will not forgive them.'
Blast kills 23 in market on outskirts of Pakistani capital
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Abdul Jalil, searching frantically for his brother whose phone was not ringing, said: 'The people were torn apart. Their body parts scattered... Who are these people killing innocent people? What do they get out of it?'
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The Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility, claiming the attack was 'wrong and against Islamic law'
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Careful: A police official uses a metal detector to search the site of the bomb blast for more devices
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Although large bombings are frequent in north western Pakistani cities, they are relatively rare in the capital
The Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility and condemned the attack.
'The deaths of innocent people in attacks on public places are saddening,' the group's spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, said in a statement.
'Such attacks are wrong and against Islamic law.'
The Taliban regularly bomb schools, marketplaces and public transport. Authorities say they have killed tens of thousands of Pakistanis.
The organisation is in talks with the government, where it has demanded the release of hundreds of prisoners and the withdrawal of the army from regions on the border with Afghanistan.
But there are concerns any peace deal with the Tehrik-e-Taliban - the formal name for the group in Pakistan - would be impossible to enforce because it has so many splinter groups and factions.
Observers also say the Taliban have used previous peace deals to regroup and replenish their forces for a later fight.
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Anger: Men stand in front of the casket of their relative as they wait for an ambulance outside hospital
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Tears: A man in mourning. One trader said 'body parts went everywhere and even hit other people on the head'
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Inconsolable: The bombing is a blow to the government's attempts to portray the capital as more secure
Nineteen of the dead today were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, said an emergency room doctor, Zulfikar Ghauri.
He said the hospital was also treating 56 people who were wounded in the bombing.
Two bodies and 31 wounded were taken to Holy Family Hospital in the nearby city of Rawalpindi, said doctor Tahir Sharif.
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Standing guard: Armed police at the bomb site
The market is near a makeshift camp for people displaced from fighting in Pakistan's northwest, as well as refugees from Afghanistan.
It is also next to a supermarket which caters for the capital's middle class families.
Although large bombings are frequent in north western Pakistani cities, they are relatively rare in the capital, which is home to diplomats, generals and top government officials.
The symbolism of such a deadly attack in Islamabad, even in an area rarely frequented by its elite, is a blow to a Pakistani government trying to increase foreign investment.
Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, a lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party, said it was difficult to say which group was behind the explosion until police complete their investigation.
Asked what the intended target was, he said: 'I think peace in Pakistan is the target.'
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came to power last May promising to end the years of bloodshed through negotiation instead of military operations.
Government negotiators held direct talks with the Taliban on March 26 at an undisclosed location in the tribal areas, and on Saturday the government announced that Pakistan would release 13 Taliban prisoners to facilitate the talks.
The militants had also declared a temporary ceasefire until tomorrow.
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Shock: A relative at the hospital. Critics say peace is not guaranteed because the Taliban has many factions
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United in grief: There are fears a peace deal would not be adhered to by all factions of the Taliban
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Attacks: The Taliban regularly bomb schools, marketplaces and public transport, killing thousands
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Orderly queue: Residents form a line to identify their relatives, in a nation where death is too often a fact of life
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