<figure id="attachment_2953182" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2953182" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-2953182" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/b6df4317-12710629.webp" alt="PAKISTAN PROTEST" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2953182" class="wp-caption-text">The Kurram region has been wracked by Sunni-Shi&#8217;ite violence for decades. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
PESHAWAR: Gunmen ambushed a Pakistan convoy travelling to bring aid to a region besieged by sectarian fighting today, local government said, wounding several officials despite a ceasefire announced three days ago.
The Kurram region of northwest Pakistan has been wracked by Sunni-Shi&#8217;ite violence for decades, but around 200 people have been killed since a fresh bout of fighting broke out in November.
As feuding tribes have battled with machine guns and heavy weapons, the remote and mountainous region bordering Afghanistan has been largely cut off from the outside world.
After a truce was called on Jan 1, the convoy was attacked as it travelled to collect the first aid delivery of food and medicine sent by road since November, officials said.
Kurram&#8217;s deputy commissioner was wounded &#8220;along with two other administration officials, two policemen and two frontier corps soldiers&#8221;, local government official Motasim Billah told AFP.
He said the attack took place around 11am.
The deputy commissioner &#8220;came under an attack by unidentified miscreants&#8221; but his &#8220;condition is out of danger&#8221; according to Muhammad Ali Saif, the spokesman of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
&#8220;The convoy has been temporarily halted due to security concerns,&#8221; he added in a statement.
Numerous ceasefires have been touted by the provincial government since the latest fighting broke out, only to be broken with renewed clashes hours later.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement the attack was &#8220;a conspiracy&#8221; intended to undo the ceasefire agreed on New Year&#8217;s Day following a council of tribal leaders from both sides.
&#8220;Mischievous elements carried out the firing to harm the peace agreement,&#8221; he said in a statement.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country but Shi&#8217;ites make up between 10% and 15% of the population.
The communities live side-by-side in Kurram, but feuding is regularly re-sparked over land disputes before igniting along sectarian divides.
This current round of violence started in November when two separate convoys of Shi&#8217;ite Muslims travelling under police escort were ambushed, with 40 people killed.

MatchPoint Times

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