[Regnum] At least 38 people were killed and 20 were injured during an armed attack in northwestern Pakistan, local television channel Geo TV reported on November 21.
“At least 38 people, including a woman and a child, were killed after attackers opened fire on passenger vehicles in Ochat area of Kurram Agency,” the report said.
According to Pakistani police, the target of the attack was a convoy of cars travelling from Parachinar to Peshawar, when the militants opened fire on them.
Ambulances are at the scene. At this point, several victims are in critical condition. The TV channel, citing law enforcement agencies, notes that this attack has become the largest in the region in recent years.
On January 30, Regnum reported that an explosion occurred during prayers in a mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. The bomb was detonated by a terrorist who died in the explosion. On January 31, it became known that the number of people killed in the terrorist attack had increased to 95.
| Khaama Press adds: |
The recent incident highlights the growing wave of murderous Moslem violence in Pakistain. Groups like Tehrik-e-Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...Pakistain (TTP) and the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Liberation Army (BLA) have intensified their attacks on Pak security forces, foreign nationals (including Chinese workers), and civilians.
In response to the rising threat, the federal government of Pakistain has approved a large-scale military operation in Balochistan. The operation aims to eliminate terrorist networks and restore security in the region.
| Deutsche Welle weighs in: |
Witnesses said that attackers had fired indiscriminately at a convoy of vehicles from either side of the highway over a period of several minutes.
Crowds gathered outside the hospital in the nearby city of Parachinar awaiting the wounded.
SECTARIAN TENSIONS HIGH IN BORDER REGION
The attack happened in the district of Kurram in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims have killed dozens of people in recent months.
Kurram is one of comparatively few areas in Sunni-majority Pakistan where Shiite Muslims make up the bulk of inhabitants.
It's also close to the border to Afghanistan, now governed by the fundamentalist Sunni Taliban, and an area of operation for anti-Shia militant groups like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and an "Islamic State" offshoot.
Around 50 people from either religious community in Kurram were killed in clashes in July connected to a land dispute, which led to an uptick in tensions and subsequent violence.
Thursday's shooting took place on a highway that had been closed for weeks following another attack on passenger vehicles last month; it was only reopened for those traveling with police escorts.
Local police official Azmat Ali told the Associated Press (AP) that several vehicles were traveling in a convoy from the nearby city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
On Wednesday this week, a suicide attack in the same province at a security checkpoint killed 12 soldiers and wounded several others.