Sectarian violence kills at least 25 in northwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan – Violent clashes erupted overnight between Sunni and Shiite tribes in northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 25 people dead and markets, homes and government properties in flames, officials and residents said Saturday.

The violence occurred in Kurram, a scenic mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. It took place in the same area where gunmen ambushed convoys of vehicles Thursday, killing 42 people, all Shia, despite the protection of security forces.

Pakistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, but Kurram’s population of 800,000 is nearly half Shiite Muslim, a dynamic that contributes to tribal and sectarian tensions. Officials and residents said that the violence started Friday afternoon in parts of the district where Sunni and Shiite groups live close to each other.

Muhammad Shoaib, a resident of a Sunni-populated town where the Shiite convoys came under attack Thursday, said that hundreds of heavily armed people from the rival sect had attacked the main market Friday night and set fire to dozens of shops and houses.

“For hours on that night, heavy gunfire was exchanged between both sides, with large weapons being used freely,” said Shoaib, who on Friday morning had moved his family to stay with relatives in a neighboring district out of fear for their safety.

“We knew that there would be a retaliatory attack,” he said. “It’s a cycle of violence that we have been witnessing and suffering for years now.”

Authorities were still working to restore order and prevent further bloodshed.

Javed ullah Mehsud, a senior district administration official, said that at least 25 people had been killed in the violence. He said clashes were continuing in at least three locations.

“Efforts to restore peace are underway through the deployment of security forces and engagement with local tribal councils,” Mehsud said. A curfew has been imposed on the main road, and the markets remain closed, with all traffic suspended.

Friday at midday, the victims of Thursday’s deadly attacks were laid to rest as thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects.

“It is not new for us to bury such a large number of people in one day,” said Mukhtar Hussain, a mourner from Parachinar, a Shiite-majority town in Kurram where most of the victims were from. “As Shiites, we are being killed everywhere – in markets, mosques, on roads – everywhere,” he said.

Shiite groups in Pakistan have announced a three-day mourning period for Thursday’s killings and have organized protests in all of Pakistan’s major cities.

Allama Ahmed Iqbal Rizvi, a Shiite leader, said that various militant groups, such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the local Islamic State affiliate – called Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K – had been targeting the Shiite population in Kurram for a long time.

“It is the incompetence of the government and state institutions,” said Rizvi, addressing a protest after Friday prayers in the port city of Karachi. He complained that they could not protect citizens traveling on the 155-mile road that links Kurram with Peshawar, the provincial capital.

That road, which is where the convoys came under attack, is a lifeline for the district. It had reopened only recently after being closed for three weeks following an ambush Oct. 12 that left at least 16 dead.

During the closure, Parachinar residents were cut off from essential supplies like food and fuel.

This month, thousands of people from Parachinar staged a peaceful 10-mile march to demand the road’s reopening and security guarantees. Authorities responded by temporarily restoring access and promising government-protected convoys three times a week.

It has been a particularly deadly year in Kurram. In late July, a weeklong clash between Sunni and Shiite communities left 46 dead and hundreds injured. Another bout of violence in September claimed 45 lives and wounded dozens.

Experts attribute the escalation in sectarian conflicts to a complex interplay of factors rooted in the area’s socioeconomic and historical context.

Among them are “close proximity to Afghanistan, a significant Shiite population, tensions over land ownership and decades of weak governance under colonial tribal laws,” said Tahmeed Jan, an Islamabad-based researcher who has worked in the area.

“Socioeconomic disparities, with Shiite-majority areas often better developed than Sunni-majority regions, which struggle with inadequate infrastructure and lower literacy rates, further exacerbate these tensions,” Jan said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.