Sunday, March 13, 2011

Ten Shia community members killed in Pakistan’s sectarian violence

Ten Shia community members killed in Pakistan's sectarian violence
Published: Sunday, Mar 13, 2011, 16:07 IST | Updated: Sunday, Mar 13, 2011, 22:32 IST 
Place: Peshawar | Agency: PTI

Ten members of the minority Shia community were killed and seven more injured when unidentified gunmen attacked a bus in an area in northwest Pakistan that has been hit by sectarian violence in recent months, officials said.

The gunmen targeted the bus near Mammo Khwar area inHangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eight persons in the bus were killed instantly. Two of the nine persons injured in the attack died later in hospital. All the victims were members of the Shia Turi tribe.

Police chased the attackers and killed three of them, officials said. Four attackers were arrested, they said.

The bus was coming from Parachinar, the main town ofKurram tribal region, to Hangu city.

Hangu district borders the lawless Kurram Agency, where hundreds of people have died in sectarian clashes over the past three years.

Hangu too has witnessed several attacks on the minority Shia sect.

The Peshawar-Parachinar road, which connects the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Kurram Agency, was closed for almost three years due to sectarian tension in the region. It was recently reopened to traffic after clearance by the administration.

Following Sunday's attack, authorities closed the road for all traffic, officials said.

Turi tribesmen of Kurram Agency staged a protest against the killings and demanded that the government should bring the killers to justice

 

SOURCE: 

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_unidentified-gunmen-kill-8-in-northwest-pakistan_1519407


Ten Shia community members killed in Pak sectarian violence

IBNLive

Ten Shia community members killed in Pak sectarian violence

PTI | 10:03 PM,Mar 13,2011

A Muhammad Peshawar, Mar 13 (PTI) Ten members of the minority Shia community were killed and seven more injured when unidentified gunmen attacked a bus in an area in northwest Pakistan that has been hit by sectarian violence in recent months, officials said.The gunmen targeted the bus near Mammo Khwar area in Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.No group claimed responsibility for the attack.Eight persons in the bus were killed instantly.Two of the nine persons injured in the attack died later in hospital.All the victims were members of the Shia Turi tribe.Police chased the attackers and killed three of them, officials said.Four attackers were arrested, they said.The bus was coming from Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal region, to Hangu city.Hangu district borders the lawless Kurram Agency, where hundreds of people have died in sectarian clashes over the past three years.Hangu too has witnessed several attacks on the minority Shia sect.The Peshawar-Parachinar road, which connects the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Kurram Agency, was closed for almost three years due to sectarian tension in the region.It was recently reopened to traffic after clearance by the administration.Following today�s attack, authorities closed the road for all traffic, officials said.Turi tribesmen of Kurram Agency staged a protest against the killings and demanded that the government should bring the killers to justice.

 

SOURCE: 

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/ten-shia-community-members-killed-in-pak-sectarian-violence/609174.html


8 killed in attack on van in Pakistan,

CNN

8 killed in attack on van in Pakistan, police say

From Nasir Habib, For CNN
March 13, 2011 -- Updated 0933 GMT (1733 HKT)

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Suspected militants opened fire on a commuter van in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing eight people, police said.

The attack took place in the Hangu district of the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province, said district Police Chief Abdul Rasheed.

The van was traveling from Kurram Agency, one of seven districts that make up the country's tribal region, to Hangu, when five to six gunmen fired on it, he said.

 

SOURCE: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/13/pakistan.shooting/


NW Pakistan ambush kills 9, threatens peace deal

The Associated Press
NW Pakistan ambush kills 9, threatens peace deal

PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen ambushed a van and killed nine civilians Sunday in a stretch of northwestern Pakistan covered by a new peace deal among tribes from rival Muslim sects. Security forces responding to the attack killed three alleged gunmen, police said.

The clash does not bode well for the future of the peace accord in the Kurram tribal region, which ended a four-year conflict that cost hundreds of lives.

Police official Mir Chaman Khan said the attack occurred in Hangu district along the main road from Kurram to the city of Peshawar. The road had recently reopened after the Shiite Muslim Toori and Bangash tribes inked the deal with the Mangal and other Sunni Muslim tribes.

The clash occurred in a Sunni-dominated area. The van was coming from Parachinar, a Shiite-dominated town in Kurram.

Khan declined to speculate on who was behind the attack.

But tribesmen in Kurram also have reported that the Haqqani network, a fiercely independent branch of the Afghan Taliban and a major enemy of U.S. and NATO forces, had cut a deal with the Shiites so it could use Kurram as a staging ground for fighting in Afghanistan.

There have been reports that Taliban militants planned to take advantage of the peace deal to gain more territory along the Afghan border.

The Taliban, who adhere to a hard-line interpretation of Sunni Islam, have at times exploited sectarian and tribal feuds to spread their influence along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Pakistan's tribal belt is a hotbed of Islamist militant groups, many linked to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The Pakistani army has launched offensives in several areas, and the United States has fired hundreds of missiles at suspected militants using unmanned aircraft in the region.

On Sunday, Pakistani intelligence officials said three suspected U.S. missile strikes in the country's tribal regions killed seven alleged militants and wounded five more.

One of the missile strikes missed a target in Azam Warsak, South Waziristan.

A missile landed near a car carrying militants, who managed to flee before another missile hit the vehicle, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with reporters.

They said six missiles in two other strikes hit a vehicle and a compound in neighboring Spalgah village near Miran Shah in North Waziristan, killing seven militants and wounding five more. They suspected the insurgents killed in the two strikes belonged to the Pakistani Taliban holed up in the compound.

North Waziristan is home to several militant groups focused on fighting U.S. and its allied NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Associated Press writer Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.


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source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110313/as-pakistan/








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Gunmen kill 10 passengers in Hangu

The Express Tribune

Gunmen kill 10 passengers in Hangu

Published: March 13, 2011

Masked gunmen open fire on passenger bus travelling from Kurram to Hangu, killing eight people.

Masked gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on a passenger bus travelling from Kurram Agency to Hangu, killing 10 people, on Sunday.

According to Express 24/7 correspondent Iftikhar Firdous, the bus was passing through the area of Tehsil Doaba, which is known to have been a conflict intensive region in the past.

Officials confirmed that that three people died on the spot, while seven others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. Five other passengers were also injured in the incident.

The DPO of the area informed that search for the culprits had begun, which would be concluded soon.


source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/132003/gunmen-kill-8-passengers-in-hangu/


Eight killed, seven injured in attack on bus in Hangu

 

Eight killed, seven injured in attack on bus in Hangu


The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where officials said that two were in a critical condition. – (File Photo)


















PESHAWAR: Militants opened fire on a passenger van in a lawless northwestern Pakistani town on Sunday, killing at least eight Shia Muslims and wounding seven others, police said.

The incident took place in Hangu district, 150 kilometres southwest of Peshawar, the capital of insurgency-hit Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province.

"Militants intercepted a passenger van at Mamoo Khwar village in Hangu district and opened fire, killing eight passengers and wounding seven others," senior local police official Abdul Rashid told AFP.

He said, "It seems to be a sectarian incident, as all those killed in the firing were Shia Muslims."

He said that the militants, who numbered six, fled the scene but police later launched an operation in the area and killed three rebels.

"A search operation has already been launched to arrest the remaining ones," he said.

Police spokesman Fazal Naeem also confirmed the incident and casualties in Hangu, a town that regularly suffers from sectarian violence and a Taliban-linked insurgency

 

SOURCE:  

http://www.dawn.com/2011/03/13/seven-killed-in-attack-on-bus-in-hangu.html