This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
At least 38 people were killed and more than 40 wounded after gunmen opened fire on a convoy of cars carrying Shi’ite Muslims in northwest Pakistan as religious tension in the region rises.
Three women and a child were among those killed in the November 21 attack, police told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.
The convoy of 200 cars was heading from Peshawar to Parachinar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province near the border with Afghanistan when the unknown gunmen attacked.
No one has taken responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of deadly confrontations in the Kurram region.
Police, who were escorting the cars, said the death toll could climb. There were about 700 people in the convoy, according to law enforcement.
Tension in Kurram began to heat up after 17 people were killed in an attack on a convoy on October 12. There have been about a handful of deadly attacks since then.
Sunnis and Shi’a live together in Kurram and have clashed violently over land, forests, and other property as well as religion over the years, despite government and law enforcement efforts to build peace.
