Gunmen opened hearth on passenger autos carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan’s restive northwest on Thursday, killing not less than 38 folks, together with six ladies, and wounding 20 others in one of many deadliest such assaults within the nation. area lately, police stated.
The assault occurred in Kurram, a district within the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the place sectarian clashes between the Sunni Muslim majority and the Shiite minority have killed dozens of individuals in latest months.
Nobody has claimed accountability. The newest violence got here per week after authorities reopened a key freeway within the area after protecting it closed for weeks following lethal clashes.
Native police official Azmat Ali stated a number of autos carrying passengers had been touring in a convoy from the city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when gunmen opened hearth.
He stated not less than 10 passengers had been in important situation at a hospital.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the assault and provided his condolences to the households of the victims. He ordered authorities to take motion towards those that orchestrated the assault.
Baqir Haideri, an area Shiite chief, denounced the assault and stated that “the terrorists martyred our harmless folks after figuring out them.”
He stated the demise toll from the assault was more likely to rise.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 p.c of the 240 million folks of Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a historical past of sectarian animosity between the 2 communities.
Though they reside collectively largely peacefully within the nation, tensions have existed for many years in some areas, particularly in components of Kurram, the place Shiites dominate.
Practically 50 folks from each side had been additionally killed over a land dispute in July when clashes broke out between Sunnis and Shiites in Kurram.
Pakistan is at present finishing up intelligence-based operations to handle violence within the northwest and southwest, the place terrorists and separatists usually assault police, troops and civilians. Many of the violence in these areas has been attributed to the Pakistani Taliban and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Military.
