Death toll from sectarian violence in northwest Pakistan rises to 130 

Sectarian violence continued in Pakistan’s northwest over the weekend, killing at least 14 people and wounding 27 in the past 24 hours in the Kurram district, located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the border with Afghanistan.

This brings the death toll from fighting over the last 10 days to at least 130, with 200 people wounded, according to officials on Sunday.

Violence has escalated in the region since November 21, when gunmen opened fire on convoys carrying Shia pilgrims. The attack killed 52 people, including women and children.

No group has claimed responsibility for the assault.

Kurram is the only district in Pakistan where Shia make up the majority of the population, in contrast to the rest of the country, where Sunnis are the majority. Waves of violence have been unfolding since July, when tensions between Shia and Sunni tribes flared over a land dispute.

The Pakistani government has made efforts to ease tensions. On November 24, government officials brokered a seven-day ceasefire, but it failed to hold.

This week’s death toll marks a significant escalation. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported that 79 people were killed between July and October due to sectarian violence.

Javed Ullah Mehsud, Kurram’s deputy commissioner, said talks are under way with tribal elders to negotiate a new ceasefire, and that security personnel have been deployed to enforce peace.

The closure of the main highway connecting the city of Parachinar with the provincial capital Peshawar has resulted in shortages of basic necessities like food, fuel, and medicine.

Despite the violence, Mehsud said authorities have restored internet and mobile services in the area.

The fighting comes amid an already tense period in Pakistan, as violence surges across the country.

In addition to the Shia-Sunni clashes in Kurram, at least 245 people have been killed in attacks and clashes nationwide in November, according to data released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), an Islamabad-based think tank.

The report found that 127 of the victims were members of armed groups, 68 were security personnel, and 50 were civilians.