Islamabad, November 23 (IANS). At least 37 people have been killed and 103 injured in fresh communal violence in Kurram district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The number of dead is continuously increasing.
This latest violence is the result of a retaliatory attack by Shia militia groups. Earlier on Thursday, 47 Shia Muslims were killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a convoy of passenger vans going from Parachinar.
According to reports, fresh communal clashes broke out in Kurram district on Saturday morning, in which a large number of gunmen with heavy weapons targeted nearby villages. Villages were reduced to rubble, houses, markets and government buildings set on fire.
“The attack was carried out by the Shia militant group Zainabiyun, which had vowed to avenge Thursday’s killing of Shias. Its men attacked villages and burned everything,” an official in Kurram district said. The death toll is expected to rise. There is a possibility of.”
An eyewitness to the massacre confirmed that he also saw the charred bodies of at least six of the attackers.
According to reports, the attackers have also abducted women and tribal elders from both Shia and Sunni sects in the district have sent messages to intensify the attacks. Clashes are still being reported from at least three different places in Kurram district, while the Thal-Sada-Parachinar highway from Kohat district remains closed.
With the ongoing clashes intensifying, a delegation of the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) left for Kurram district from Peshawar to review the law and order situation.
The helicopter was carrying a government delegation consisting of the Law Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Chief Secretary and the Inspector General of Police. The delegation met the local administration in Kurram district, but while returning, the helicopter was reportedly fired upon.
However, the helicopter managed to land safely in Peshawar. The situation is becoming increasingly serious in Kurram district. Nearly 100 people have been killed and 200 others injured in Sunni and Shia sectarian clashes in the last 48 hours.
Kurram district has a history of communal violence. At least 60 people from both sects were killed in separate incidents in September, according to provincial governor Faisal Karim Kundi.
Police vehicles and security posts were set on fire during protests in the Shia-dominated Parachinar area on Friday. Also, roads were blocked with stones and burning tyres. Parachinar has previously been the victim of violent clashes with Sunni-dominated areas.
Protestors in Parachinar have also demanded immediate opening of the border with Afghanistan amid deteriorating conditions, shortage of food, medicines, fuel and oxygen.
Shia organization and political party Majis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) have put forward some demands to the government, which include operationalizing Parachinar airport due to unsafe roads and starting a free shuttle service between Parachinar and Peshawar through PIA or Air Force planes. Is included.
The protesters have warned that if their demands are ignored by the provincial and central governments, they will be forced to seek help from human rights organizations and the United Nations.
–IANS
FZ/AKJ
