Peshawar 2010 July 17: A suspected sectarian attack
on a civilian convoy in a troubled tribal area of Pakistan has left 16 dead. Several
other people were wounded in the ambush in the North West, where the army has
carried out operations against Islamist militants.
The convoy, which was being escorted by security
forces, was attacked in Char Khel village in the Kurram region. All those
killed were Shia Muslims, according to local officials, who said the death toll
may rise. The convoy was heading from Parachinar, in Kurram, to the main
regional city of Peshawar when it was ambushed on Saturday in the predominantly
Sunni region.
The Kurram tribal district has been a flashpoint for
violence between the minority Shias and the Sunni community for several years. Some
reports put the number of dead at 18, including two women.
Jamshed Tori, who was wounded in the attack, told
the news agency: "Militants attacked the last two vehicles in the
convoy with automatic weapons near Char Khel village, killing 18 people." A
tribal leader, Mussrat Bangash, also confirmed the deaths.
Kurram has been hit by scores of attacks, including
robberies and kidnappings for ransom, in the past three years. The army has
reportedly killed nearly 100 militants in operations in the region, close to
the Afghan border, in recent months.
Several major suicide attacks have hit Pakistan in
recent weeks. An attack on Thursday killed at least five people in the Swat
Valley, also in North West. Earlier this month, a pair of suicide bombers blew
themselves up in the Mohmand tribal region, killing more than 100 people.
The Pakistani government is under US pressure to
crack down on the unrest in the border region. The Shia minority accounts for
some 20% of Pakistan's population of 160 million. More than 4,000 people have
died as a result of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias since the late
1980s. Reuters
