Gunmen target passenger convoys in Pakistan killing at least 38

Gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles in a tribal area of northwestern Pakistan on November 21, killing at least 38 people and injuring 29, according to Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, the chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

No group claimed responsibility for the incident, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Among those killed in the attack in the Kurram tribal district were a woman and a child, Chaudhry stated, adding: “This is a significant tragedy, and the death toll is likely to increase.”

Tensions have existed for decades between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute in the tribal area that borders Afghanistan.

"There were two convoys of passenger vehicles, one carrying passengers from Peshawar to Parachinar and another from Parachinar to Peshawar, when armed men opened fire on them,” a local resident of Parachinar, Ziarat Hussain told Reuters by telephone, adding that his relatives were travelling from Peshawar in the convoy.

President Asif Ali Zardari, in a statement, strongly condemned the attack on passenger vehicles.

By Aghakazim Guliyev