16 dead in Pakistan’s latest sectarian violence in the northwest

INN/Islamabad, @Infodeaofficial

A new sectarian conflict in northwest Pakistan claimed the lives of at least sixteen people, including two women and three children, according to officials. For several months, there has been sporadic fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim clans in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kurram area.

Once a semi-autonomous region, Kurram has seen brutal clashes between Sunni and Shiite tribes in the past that have taken hundreds of lives over the years. A senior Kurram administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that a convoy of Sunnis was attacked on Saturday while driving under the cover of paramilitary personnel.

According to officials, a new sectarian conflict in northwest Pakistan claimed the lives of at least sixteen individuals, including two women and three children. In Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kurram area, Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribes have been fighting off and on for a number of months.

Hundreds of lives have been lost in violent clashes between tribes in Kurram, which was once a semi-autonomous region and was home to both Sunni and Shiite Islamic groups. Under the cover of paramilitary guards, a convoy of Sunnis was travelling on Saturday when they were attacked, a senior Kurram government source said AFP, speaking anonymously.

“As a result, 14 people, including 3 women and 2 children, were killed, and six others were  wounded,” he stated. Two of the attackers, who were recognised as Shiites, were slain by frontier police after they retaliated, the spokesman said. Dozens of people were killed in other recent skirmishes that occurred in July and September and stopped only when a ceasefire was announced by a jirga, or tribal council.

Authorities are trying to arrange a new ceasefire. Family and tribal conflicts are prevalent in Pakistan. However, in isolated parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where tribes adhere to customary tribal honour laws, they can be especially lengthy and violent. In Pakistan, a nation of Sunni Muslims, the Shiite population has long faced prejudice and bloodshed.