No less than 38 other people – together with girls and kids – had been killed after unidentified gunmen opened hearth on a convoy of 200 passenger automobiles touring via a far flung house of Pakistan.The automobiles had been attacked as they travelled throughout the tribal district of Kurram in Pakistan, just about the Afghan border, in keeping with the world’s deputy police commissioner.The gunmen to start with focused the convoy’s police escort, the provincial spokesman mentioned in a observation.Police had been protective the convoy following months of sectarian violence within the house, which has claimed dozens of lives this 12 months.Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, the manager secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, advised Reuters information company Thursday’s assault was once “a big tragedy”, with the dying toll “prone to upward thrust”. No less than 11 other people had been injured, he mentioned.Saeeda Bano – who was once in the course of the convoy – described to BBC Urdu how she feared she can be killed as she concealed below the auto seats together with her youngsters throughout the assault.When the gunfire in spite of everything stopped after a number of mins, she noticed injured other people and our bodies mendacity within the highway.Main points of precisely what took place are nonetheless rising, however Javed ullah Mehsud, a senior management legitimate, advised AFP “roughly 10 attackers” had been concerned, “firing indiscriminately from each side of the street”.Girls and kids had hidden in within sight properties, whilst police sought for the attackers, he added.Maximum the passengers travelling within the convoy throughout the mountainous house had been Shia, he mentioned in an previous observation.Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribes have clashed many times this 12 months. An previous collection of assaults ended after a tribal council known as for a ceasefire, in keeping with Reuters information company.Then ultimate month, there was once any other assault on passenger automobiles alongside a highway within the area which killed 15 other people. The street Thursday’s convoy was once travelling alongside had handiest reopened in fresh days, with trip restricted to convoys with police coverage.Sectarian violence is continuously related to land disputes within the area.Alternatively, Kurram, in Pakistan’s north-west, additionally borders a number of Afghan provinces which can be house to anti-Shia militant teams, together with the Islamic State staff and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
