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Clashes continue in Pakistan
 Rival Sunni and Shiite Muslims traded gun and rocket fire in a tense north-west Pakistani town for a second day as the death toll from an outburst of religious violence rose to 40. Paramilitary troops and police maintained a 24-hour curfew in the mountain town of Hangu, where a suicide attack on Thursday targeted Shiites celebrating Ashura, the holiest day in their calendar. The army threatened to unleash gunship helicopters on activists from both sects who were holed up in villages near Hangu and launching mortar rounds at each other. "The death toll is 40 and it may go up. The situation is very tense in the city," Ghaniur Rehman, the mayor of Hangu, told AFP. Mr Rehman said 35 people were now known to have died in the explosion and in subsequent fighting between Sunnis and Shiites on Thursday. Another five died as further battles erupted on Friday, two of them during an exchange of heavy mortar fire overnight in Ibrahimzai village 10 kilometres away, he said. Fresh gunfire broke out in Hangu after the authorities in some areas relaxed curfew restrictions for Friday's Muslim congregations, according to witnesses, who said they saw residents and security officials running for cover. Three more people were wounded when a rocket hit a house in Hangu on Friday afternoon, he said. Officials said earlier that at least 31 people died and more than 70 were wounded in Thursday's blast and the resulting mayhem, including four bus passengers and four truck drivers shot dead by unidentified gunmen. Security was also high across Pakistan amid fears that the bloodshed could stoke tensions between the rest of the country's majority Sunnis and minority Shiites. Posted by: Fred 2006-02-11 |
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