Since Ramadan is a time of renewed piety and jihad is considered an act of piety, this is what happens. “Dozens killed in Pakistan blasts, the deadliest attack during Ramadan,” from the South China Morning Post, July 27 (thanks to Kenneth):
Twin explosions rocked a busy marketplace in northwest Pakistan yesterday killing at least 41 people and injuring more than 150 others, officials said, in the deadliest attack to hit the country during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The explosion at the bazaar in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal district on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, sent handcarts flying as shoppers bought food to open their fasts at sunset.
Doctors at the main public hospital said 41 people were killed, and 20 critically wounded among the more than 150 injured.
Dead bodies quickly overwhelmed Parachinar’s hospital, said Dr. Zahid Hussain, who works at the hospital.
“We have no place to keep the wounded,” the doctor said. “Many of them are lying on the hospital floor and on the lawn.”
One bomb was believed to have been planted on a motorcycle and explosives experts were examining the site last night.
The second bomb detonated about four minutes after the first, about 365 metres away from the initial blast, government official Javed Ali said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Taliban militants trying to overthrow the Pakistani government have carried out a campaign of suicide bombings.