A shooting incident between rival tribes appears to have sparked clashes, resulting in casualties including women and children.
According to a local official, at least 11 people have been killed and eight injured, including women and children, in tribal clashes in northwestern Pakistan.
Tensions escalated in Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after two individuals were critically wounded in a shooting incident between rival tribes. The cause of the shooting remains unclear.
Vehicles were targeted in different parts of the district, resulting in additional casualties, as stated by senior official Javedullah Khan.
Efforts are being made to secure travel routes and restore normalcy, with the injured individuals taken to a hospital.
Former parliamentarian and tribal council member Pir Haider Ali Shah mentioned that elders arrived in Kurram to facilitate a peace agreement between the tribes.
Recent firing incidents have hindered long-lasting peace efforts, regretfully stated Shah.
In the preceding month, clashes between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute led to at least 25 deaths.
While both communities coexist peacefully in the country, tensions have persisted for many years in certain regions, particularly in Kurram where Shia Muslims hold prominence in certain areas.
Balochistan Liberation Army
Simultaneously, a separatist group in southwestern Pakistan claimed responsibility for an attack that resulted in the deaths of 21 individuals.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) admitted to carrying out an assault on a coal mine in Dukki district using heavy weapons, rocket launchers, and grenades late on Thursday night.
Reporting higher casualty figures of 30 dead and 18 injured, the BLA accused Pakistani security personnel of posing as workers without providing evidence.
The group threatened further attacks unless the military withdrew from the province.
Balochistan is a center for armed movements, with the BLA being the most prominent among them.
They allege that the central government in Islamabad is exploiting the province’s abundant oil and mineral resources at the expense of the local population in the largest and least populated province in the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
Recently, the BLA claimed responsibility for an attack targeting Chinese citizens near Pakistan’s main airport, resulting in fatalities and injuries.
The Chinese embassy confirmed the deaths of at least two individuals and injuries to a third in the attack, carried out with an improvised explosive device believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber.
Local media reports suggest at least 10 individuals were injured in total, with four vehicles destroyed in the explosion and ten more damaged in the ensuing fire.
