More than 80 people have been killed in renewed sectarian violence in northwest Pakistan, officials said.
Another 156 were said to have been wounded in three days of fighting in the Kurram district, near the Afghan border.
The violence started on Thursday, there gunmen attacked dozens of Shia Muslims walking in the area escorted by the police. More than 40 people died in the incident, which sparked a series of revenge attacks.
For decades, Shia and Sunni Muslims have been locked in tribal and sectarian conflicts over global conflicts.
On Sunday, a local administration official told AFP: “Clashes and truck attacks on November 21, 22, and 23 resulted in 82 deaths and 156 injuries.”
Speaking who requested that his name be withheld, he said that 16 of the dead were Sunni and 66 belonged to the Shia community.
Women and children were among those killed in the attack on the convoy on Thursday. Passenger Saeeda Bano told BBC Urdu how she feared she would be killed as she hid under the car seats with her children.
Hundreds of civilians fled amid the violence that raged on Friday and Saturday.
This comes after a number of people have died in these attacks in the past few months, which led to the suspension of the tribal council.
On Saturday, provincial officials began talks with Shia and Sunni community leaders, AFP reported.
A security official in the provincial capital Peshawar told AFP that the negotiators’ helicopter had received criticism as it arrived in the region.
Source link
