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| India-Pakistan |
| Militants kill 18 in NW Pakistan convoy attack |
| 2010-07-18 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Suspected militants in a Pakistani tribal region on the Afghan border ambushed a convoy of vehicles being escorted by security forces on Saturday, killing 18 people, including two women, witnesses said. Militants opened fire on civilian vehicles in the convoy as it headed to the main northwestern city of Peshawar from Parachinar, the main town of the Pashtun-dominated Kurram region where the army has killed nearly 100 militants in operations in the past few months. "Militants attacked the last two vehicles in the convoy with automatic weapons near Char Khel village, killing 18 people," said Jamshed Tori, who was also wounded in the attack. Local administrative and intelligence officials also confirmed the incident and said that all those killed were Shiite Muslims. They said that the death toll may rise and added that gunmen managed to flee the scene. Kurram tribal district has for three years been a flashpoint for violence between the minority Shiite and majority Sunni communities. Shiites account for some 20 percent of Pakistan's mostly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million. More than 4,000 people have died in outbreaks of sectarian violence between the groups since the late 1980s. Militants have gone on the offensive again after a recent lull in violence, challenging government assertions that a major assault in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan along with smaller operations in other regions had dealt a major blow to insurgents. The road linking Kurram with Peshawar often remains closed because of militants and Pakistan army operations, forcing people to take a circuitous route through Afghanistan to travel to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and its capital, Peshawar. But that route is not safe. At least 11 people were killed in a similar attack last week when a passenger bus heading to Peshawar was attacked inside Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Fred |