At least 18 dead in retaliatory sectarian attacks in Pakistan

By Mushtaq Ali

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed and 30 injured in further sectarian violence in northwestern Pakistan, officials said on Saturday, as tensions remained high following attacks on transport convoys that killed dozens of civilians this week.

The latest killings in a tribal district began on Friday night, when armed men attacked a village in the district, said the chief secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry.

"They set on fire petrol stations and damaged properties as part of revenge," he told Reuters by phone. He said he and top police officials would be visiting the area and engage tribal elders on both sides to restore order.

The toll since Thursday is 58 dead.

AFP reported on Saturday that 32 people were killed in the latest violence, citing an unnamed official.

On Thursday unidentified gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles, killing over 40 in the Kurrram district, where armed Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalry for decades over a land dispute near the Afghanistan border.

Most of the dead were Shiites, officials said, sparking retaliatory attacks by armed groups, with markets and schools remaining shut in a curfew-like situation.

A police official requesting anonymity told Reuters that the death toll from the fresh violence could have been higher had residents of the village that was attacked not already evacuated their homes in anticipation of more violence.

He said the residents of Bagan village, a mostly Sunni area, had already left their homes and shifted to safe places in Lower Kurram.

(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan; Additional reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Christopher Cushing and William Mallard)