Death toll rises to 43 in Pakistan sectarian attacks

The death toll from two attacks in northwest Pakistan rose to 43, authorities said on Friday as they imposed a curfew and suspended mobile service in the remote mountainous district.

Gunmen opened fire Thursday on two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling with police escorts in Kurram, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghanistan border with a history of bloody sectarian violence.

For several months, clashes have again erupted between Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribes in the area, which was formerly semi-autonomous.

"The death toll from yesterday's attack on a convoy in Kurram has risen to 43," Javed Ullah Mehsud, a senior administration official, told AFP.

"The victims include seven women and three children," Mehsud said.

He added that out of the 16 injured, 11 were in critical condition.

A senior police officer confirmed the death toll to AFP.

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that mobile signal across the district had been shut down, describing the situation as "extremely tense" with locals staging a sit-in in Parachinar, the district's main town.

"A curfew has been imposed on the main road connecting Upper and Lower Kurram, and the bazaar remains completely closed, with all traffic suspended," the official said.

Tribal and family feuds are common in Sunni-majority Pakistan, where the Shiite community has long suffered discrimination and violence.

Mehsud said that a local jirga, or tribal council, has been convened to help restore peace and order.

Previous clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire.

The latest violence drew condemnation from Pakistani officials and human rights groups.

"The frequency of such incidents confirms the failure of the federal and provincial governments to protect the security of ordinary citizens," the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said in a statement.

"We demand immediate and decisive steps from both governments to permanently break this cycle of violence," the statement added.