At least 38 people were killed and 29 others injured when gunmen attacked passenger vehicles in a tribal area of northwestern Pakistan. The attack took place in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where armed assailants opened fire on a convoy of passenger vans traveling from Parachinar to Peshawar.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Secretary, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, confirmed the incident and said that among the victims were a woman and a child. The death toll is expected to rise. Ziarat Hussain, a local resident of Parachinar, described how the two convoys, one traveling from Peshawar to Parachinar and the other in the opposite direction, were targeted by the gunmen.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and authorities are still investigating the motives behind it. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, calling it “a cowardly and inhumane act” in a statement on X. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party, also denounced the attack, emphasizing the government’s responsibility to ensure security and protect civilians.
The region, which borders Afghanistan, has experienced long-standing tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims due to land disputes. This incident comes after a similar attack in August, where 23 people were killed by gunmen who checked their ethnicity before opening fire in Balochistan province. This type of violence is linked to separatist activities and ethnic targeting in the region.
