Peshawar, PAKISTAN (Reuters) – At least 11 people were killed, including a woman and child, on Thursday, following a gun attack on passenger vans in a tribal area in northwestern Pakistan, the chief secretary of the province said.
The attack targeted passenger vans travelling from Parachinar in Kurram in a convoy, confirmed Chief Secretary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry.
Tensions have existed for decades between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute in the tribal area that borders Afghanistan.
No group claimed responsibility for the incident.
“There were two convoys of passenger vehicles, one carrying passengers from Peshawar to Parachinar and another from Parachinar to Peshawar, when armed men opened fire on them,” a local resident of Parachinar, Ziarat Hussain told Reuters by telephone, adding that his relatives were travelling from Peshawar in the convoy.
President Asif Ali Zardari, in a statement, strongly condemned the attack on passenger vehicles.