At least 11 killed in fighting between tribes in northwest Pakistan

A shooting incident between rival tribes appear to have led to clashes, with woman and children among the casualties.

At least 11 people have been killed and eight injured, including women and children, in tribal clashes in northwestern Pakistan, according to a local official.

Tensions rose in Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Saturday after two people were critically injured in a shooting incident between rival tribes. It was not immediately clear what caused the shooting.

Vehicles were targeted in different areas of the district, leading to more casualties, said senior official Javedullah Khan.

Khan said efforts were being made to secure travel routes and restore normalcy. The injured were taken to a hospital.

Pir Haider Ali Shah, a former parliamentarian and member of a tribal council, said elders had arrived in Kurram to mediate a peace agreement between the tribes.

“The recent firing incidents are regrettable and have hampered efforts for lasting peace,” he said.

Last month, at least 25 people were killed in days of clashes between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute.

Although both live together largely peacefully in the country, tensions have existed for decades between them in some areas, especially in Kurram, where Shia Muslims dominate in parts of the district.

Balochistan Liberation Army

Meanwhile, on Saturday a separatist group in the southwest of Pakistan claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 21 people.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) said its fighters attacked a coal mine in Dukki district with heavy weapons, rocket launchers and grenades late Thursday night.

It gave higher casualty figures of 30 dead and 18 injured. It also said that Pakistani security personnel were disguised as workers, without giving evidence.

It threatened more assaults unless the military withdrew from the province.

Balochistan is a hotbed of armed movements, with the BLA most prominent among them.

They accuse the central government in Islamabad of exploiting the province’s rich oil and mineral resources to the detriment of the local population in the country’s largest and least-populated province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

On Monday, the BLA – designated a “terrorist group” by Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States – claimed responsibility for an attack targeting Chinese nationals near Pakistan’s largest airport.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said at least two of its citizens were killed and a third injured after their convoy was targeted with an improvised explosive device believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber.

Local media reports suggest at least 10 people were injured in total, with four cars destroyed in the explosion and 10 more vehicles damaged in the resulting fire.

Source

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Al Jazeera and news agencies