(KUNA) -- Over four-day long sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims have further intensified, killing as many as 50 people, said officials on Friday. Clashes broke out between Orakai and Kachai tribes after firing on a Jirga killed at least 17 tribesmen including tribal elders. A local government official, Kamran Zeb, talking to newsmen said the clashes have been further intensified, adding that 15 more people were killed on late on Thursday.
He said more than 50 people including women and children have been killed in fierce clashes while dead bodies are lying inside houses and in fields. He added that both sides were using heavy weapons, mortar shells and rockets. The government has, so far, been unable to pacify both sides though reports suggested that military gunship helicopters have been dispatched to the area but fighting was still continuing. Kamran Zeb said that several villages have been affected while, hundreds of houses have been destroyed. |