At least 15 killed and 25 injured in fresh communal clashes in Pakistan’s Kurram
Two days after the assault on passenger cars, police in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kurram district claimed at least 15 people had been killed and at least 25 wounded in new sectarian skirmishes, according to local media on Saturday.
According to Samaa TV, competing parties engaged in heavy and automatic weapon fire as the violence in Lower Kurram increased.
Authorities have advised citizens to remain inside as tensions remain high and have shuttered all educational institutions in Kurram district for the day in reaction to the worsening security situation.
According to the ‘Dawn’ news agency, which quoted police sources, fights broke out when Bushehra tribesmen began building bunkers on Ahmadzai tribal territories. They said that after the event, residents of Central Kurram also began shooting heavy and automatic guns in the Baleshkhel region.
According to the reports, the battle claimed the lives of one person on Friday night, four on Sunday, and several more wounded.
The Nation quoted police and local sources as saying that heavily armed terrorists attacked several passenger cars in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram area on November 21, killing over 42 persons and injuring 29 more.
Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsood was quoted by the ‘Dawn’ magazine in a report on November 22 as stating that a convoy of over 200 cars was traveling from Parachinar to Peshawar when it was attacked by militants.
According to the Dawn, no organization has yet to take credit for the slaughter, which took place in a region of Pakistan where highly armed Shia and Sunni Muslim clans often engage in sectarian conflict.
Police said the incident happened in Lower Kurram’s Ochat neighborhood. According to the Nation, the cars were targeted by the insurgents concealed in the highlands using automatic guns.
Kurram authorities blame the latest violence on a land dispute that has sparked weeks of violent battles and killed more than 100 people between August and October. A ‘land dispute’ between two clans in the Kurram area ignited violent hostilities earlier this year in July, which concluded after six days of bloody fighting.
Security forces troops have been stationed in the region, according to Kurram Deputy Commissioner. Farmers, tourists, and merchants are having trouble since the Parachinar-Peshawar route has been blocked to all traffic for the seventh day, according to the police.
Normal life has stopped because of the difficult situation, and a heavy police and security presence has been assured in the troublesome region.
