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At least 41 individuals – together with girls and kids – have been killed after unidentified gunmen opened hearth on a convoy of 200 passenger autos touring by means of a distant space of Pakistan.
The autos had been attacked as they travelled by means of the tribal district of Kurram in Pakistan, near the Afghan border, in response to the realm’s deputy police commissioner.
The gunmen initially focused the convoy’s police escort, the provincial spokesman stated in an announcement.
Police had been defending the convoy following months of sectarian violence within the space, which has claimed dozens of lives this yr.
Police have informed the BBC that 41 individuals had been killed in Thursday’s assault and a further 16 extra had been critically injured.
Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, the chief secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, informed Reuters information company the assault was “a major tragedy”, with the loss of life toll “likely to rise”.
Saeeda Bano – who was in the midst of the convoy – described to BBC Urdu how she feared she could be killed as she hid below the automobile seats together with her kids in the course of the assault.
When the gunfire lastly stopped after a number of minutes, she noticed injured individuals and our bodies mendacity within the street.
Details of precisely what occurred are nonetheless rising, however Javed ullah Mehsud, a senior administration official, informed AFP “approximately 10 attackers” had been concerned, “firing indiscriminately from both sides of the road”.
Women and kids had hidden in close by homes, whereas police hunted for the attackers, he added.
Most the passengers travelling within the convoy by means of the mountainous space had been Shia, he stated in an earlier assertion.
Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribes have clashed repeatedly this yr. An earlier collection of assaults ended after a tribal council known as for a ceasefire, in response to Reuters information company.
Then final month, there was one other assault on passenger autos alongside a street within the area which killed 15 individuals.
The street Thursday’s convoy was travelling alongside had solely reopened in current days, with journey restricted to convoys with police safety.
Sectarian violence is commonly linked to land disputes within the area.
However, Kurram, in Pakistan’s north-west, additionally borders a number of Afghan provinces that are dwelling to anti-Shia militant teams, together with the Islamic State group and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
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