At least 42 people killed in sectarian clashes in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Conflict News

Gunmen opened fire on buses carrying Shiite pilgrims in Kurram, where clashes with Sunnis have increased in recent months.

Gunmen opened fire on convoys of Shiite pilgrims in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 42 people, according to officials in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Women and children were among those killed in Thursday’s attacks in the Kurram tribal region, police said on Friday.

Sectarian violence has been increasing since July due to land disputes between Shiite and Sunni tribes in the Kurram region on the Afghan border.

Gunmen opened fire on two separate convoys of Shiite pilgrims traveling with police escorts in Kurram. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Kurram deputy commissioner Javedullah Mehsud said the attacks took place when the convoys were heading towards Peshawar from Parachinar district headquarters.

Mehsud told Al Jazeera on Friday that all the bodies had been recovered and funerals would be held later in the day.

Police announced that 20 people were injured.

“We also managed to save 26 people from the Shiite community, including women and children, who were held hostage by Sunni groups last night,” Mehsud said.

Ajmeer Hussain, 28, survived the attack.

“The gunshots suddenly broke out and I started reciting my prayers, thinking these were my last moments,” Hussain told the AFP news agency.

“I lay down at the feet of the two passengers sitting next to me. “They were both hit by multiple bullets and died instantly,” he said.

“The shooting lasted about five minutes.”

Condemning the attacks, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, “Enemies of peace in the country attacked a convoy of innocent citizens, this is complete brutality.”

Mehmood Ali Jan, a local tribal elder, told Al Jazeera that locals were angry at the authorities, especially law enforcement officers who were supposed to ensure the security of the convoys but failed to do so.

“People are planning to gather in Parachinar to protest against the security forces,” Ali Jan said.

The attacks came days after at least 20 soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the province. In October, 11 people lost their lives in tribal clashes in Kurram.

Kurram has a long history of sectarian conflict between Shia and Sunni groups. More than 2,000 people were killed between 2007 and 2011, the period when the violence was at its deadliest.

The mountainous region adjacent to Afghanistan’s Khost, Paktia and Nangarhar provinces has also become a hotspot for armed groups, with frequent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and ISIS (ISIS).

Earlier this month, thousands of people gathered for a peace march in Parachinar, calling on the government to improve security for Kurram’s 800,000 residents, more than 45 percent of whom belong to the Shiite minority.

Commenting on Thursday’s attacks, Mehsud said: “Naturally there is a lot of anger and rage among people in the area… This was a land dispute that has now turned into a dispute between tribes and sects but we have the full support of tribal elders not only from Kurram but other areas also.”

He said that authorities cannot rule out the presence of militants in this attack, but investigations are continuing.