Asia Pacific

Pakistan Convoy Ambushed on Supply Mission to Cut-off Region

Gunmen ambushed a Pakistan convoy taking vital supplies to a region besieged by sectarian fighting on Thursday, police said, despite a truce ordering warring tribes to lay down arms.

The Kurram region of northwest Pakistan has been wracked by Sunni-Shiite violence for decades, but around 140 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.

Numerous ceasefires have been touted, most recently on January 1, but none have stopped the violence.

A senior local police official said a convoy of 33 vehicles set to resupply local traders with rice, flour and cooking oil “was attacked” alongside two aid vehicles containing essential medicine.

“Following the attack, 21 trucks retreated from the area, while others remain stranded,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Intense gunfire erupted at two other locations after the incident.”

Another senior police officer, also speaking anonymously, said one member of the security forces had been killed and three more wounded.

“There were also casualties among the militants when the forces retaliated, but I cannot confirm the exact numbers at this time,” he said. “The firing has stopped for now.”

Senior police official Sahaib Gul said some trucks had “caught fire” as a result of the ambush.

The convoy, hit outside the town of Thal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was the third to try to reach the region by road since the latest ceasefire, said Kurram deputy commissioner Muhammad Ashfaq Khan.

One previous aid convoy was also attacked by gunmen, wounding several local administration officials and members of their security escort.

Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country but Shiites make up between 10 and 15 percent of the population.

The communities live side-by-side in Kurram, but feuding is regularly resparked over land disputes before igniting along sectarian divides.

This current round of violence started in November when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling under police escort were ambushed, with 40 people killed.

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