Sectarian clashes, militant violence kill 43 in Pakistan

Jul 1, 2009, 13:32 GMT

   Islamabad - Tribal and militant violence has killed at least 43 people, including a soldier and policeman, in Pakistan's troubled north-west, officials said Wednesday.

   Fighters from warring Shia and Sunni tribes in the country's mountainous Kurram tribal district, which borders Afghanistan, targeted one another's positions with machine guns and rocket fire in clashes that have intensified in the past two weeks.

   'According to the information we have gathered from our local sources, 30 people were killed from the both sides in the clashes that took place in seven villages,' a local intelligence official said.

   'The numbers of those injured must be in the dozens,' added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'We don't have an exact figure.'

   Kurram, which is a Shia-dominated district in Sunni-majority Pakistan, has a long history of violence between the rival groups. According to Dawn television, 148 people have died in 16 days of the most recent fighting while more than 200 have been injured.

   Meanwhile, intelligence officials said Taliban militants fleeing a government offensive in North-West Frontier Province and neighboring tribal districts were intensifying fighting in areas of Kurram.

   'We have information that hundreds of Taliban have arrived from Swat and Dir,' the local intelligence official said.

   Pakistani troops launched a major offensive in Swat, Dir and two adjoining districts in North-West Frontier Province in late April after Islamist rebels failed to observe the terms of a peace deal. More than 1,600 insurgents have so far been killed in the offensive, according to government accounts, and 2.5 million people have been displaced.

   A tribal militia, locally known as a lashkar, is assisting government forces in their assault against the Taliban in Upper Dir. On Wednesday, the Taliban attacked the tribesmen, killing two of them and injuring four more, the Geo news channel reported.

   With major successes in the Swat region, the government has recently extended its military action to Bannu and the tribal district of South Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

   According to a military statement Wednesday, militants raided a security post near the Hindi Khel area of Bannu, killing one soldier and injuring five more. Five militants also died in retaliatory fire.

   Separately, gunmen opened fire at the vehicle of a pro-government tribal elder, Malik Guli Shah, in the Khyber district. Two guards died on the spot while Shah succumbed to his injuries at a hospital, said Bimillah Khan, a government official in the district.

   Shah's enraged supporters blocked the main highway between Pakistan and Afghanistan for two hours to protest his killing.

   One policeman died and two were injured in North-West Frontier Province's Hangu district when militants ambushed a police van. In the neighbouring district of Dera Ismail Khan, a passer-by was killed when a police van narrowly missed a roadside bomb.

   The latest violence came as rival Taliban groups were uniting against Pakistani forces. On Monday, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, previously known as a pro-government warlord, scrapped a peace deal with the authorities.

   Analysts said they believe a combined force of well-trained and well-equipped Taliban guerilla fighters could make Pakistan's efforts against the Islamic insurgency in the north-west much more complicated.