PARACHINAR/PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: At least 42 people, including seven women and a child, were martyred and 29 others injured when unidentified gunmen indiscriminately sprayed passenger vehicles with bullets in the Lower Kurram tribal district on Thursday.
Two senior officials of the local administration in the restive Kurram told The News that around 100 vehicles were travelling in a convoy from Peshawar to Parachinar and another large convoy was on its way to Peshawar from Parachinar when all of a sudden gunmen opened fire on them at five different places.
“It seemed to be a pre-planned attack and the attackers were aware of the movement of two separate convoys travelling from both sides. The moment the two convoys reached Lower Kurram, the gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicles at five different places, killing innocent people, including women,” a government official told The News on condition of anonymity. He said of the collected 39 bodies, seven were women and a child. “Some of the bodies were stated to be missing as tension escalated when hundreds of people, including relatives of the victims, arrived at the site of the attack,” said the official. According to him, some of these people later retaliated and started firing on the members of the opposite sect and reportedly killed some people. “The situation in Kurram has become very complicated and extremely dangerous right now and we don’t have the exact number of people who died in retaliation,” he added.
According to the officials, the passengers travelling in other vehicles entered the houses of local people and took refuge there. “Some of the passengers found their family members missing and relatives were desperately looking for them but due to the suspension of cellular phone service, they were unable to reach them. We have been telling people that they might be safe and could have taken shelter in the houses of residents,” the government official argued.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry also confirmed the loss of 42 people in the terrorist assault. “There was an unfortunate incident in Kurram tribal district in which 39 people were martyred and 29 others injured. I have directed the local authorities to immediately shift the injured people to hospitals and provide them with medical care,” Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry told The News. He feared that the death toll might rise, as some of the injured were stated to be critical.
Speaking to journalists in Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed the loss of 39 people in the terrorist strike. Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, told The News that they were in contact with the Kurram administration and efforts were underway to bring normalcy in the tribal district. He said passenger vehicles were being escorted by the police but the gunmen first targeted the police and then the passenger vehicles.
Barrister Saif said the government had sent ambulances to immediately evacuate the injured people to nearby hospitals and to ensure that they get quality care. Kurram Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mahsud and District Police Officer Ahmad Shah rushed to the area. According to the local administration, the injured were taken to the nearby Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Alizai while others were evacuated to the District Headquarters Hospital, Parachinar. “Those critically injured were referred to Peshawar for better treatment,” he added.
The Kurram authorities said the Peshawar-Parachinar Road had remained closed for more than a month for all types of traffic after the violent clashes there and it was reopened recently when hundreds of tribesmen from Upper Kurram district started a peace march from Parachinar to Peshawar and Islamabad. Their protest march worked and the government opened the road traffic and started the movement of tribespeople in convoys.
No militant group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur condemned the armed attack and expressed sorrow over the tragic loss of lives. The chief minister constituted a committee, comprising the provincial law minister, local MNA and MPA and chief secretary, to visit Kurram, assess the ground realities and submit a detailed report.
Furthermore, the chief minister instructed the reactivation of a previously held tribal jirga to help stabilize the situation in the area. Gandapur emphasized that the provincial government, police, and all relevant institutions were making concerted efforts to improve law and order in the region. As part of these measures, he directed the authorities to expedite the establishment of a Provincial Highways Police to ensure the safety of all major routes across the province.
Extending heartfelt condolences to the aggrieved families, the chief minister prayed for the deceased and patience for the bereaved families. He announced financial assistance for the victims’ families. He termed the targeting of innocent civilians tragic and reprehensible and vowed that those responsible for the incident would be brought to justice.
Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao also condemned the incident and sympathized with the families. In a statement, he demanded a probe into the firing incident and said the law and order was worsening in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa day by day.
APP adds: President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the incident and called it a cowardly and inhumane act. In a statement, he instructed the authorities to take the perpetrators to task. President Zardari prayed to Allah Almighty for peace for the departed souls and strength for the bereaved families to bear the loss.
In a message, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif condemned the terrorist attack and directed the best medical care for the injured. Terming the attack as an act of barbarism, the prime minister emphasized that the enemies of the nation would fail in all their nefarious attempts to destroy the peace of the country. He vowed that the perpetrators would be identified and given an exemplary punishment.
In a related development, the Iranian president condemned the incident and expressed condolences to the heirs of victims. In his message, Masoud Pezeshkian offer his condolences to the government and nation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan particularly the bereaved families of the victims of the terrorist incident in the Kurram, leading to the death and injury of some Pakistani citizens. Terrorism is condemned in all its shapes and the Islamic Republic of Iran, as in the past, will stand by the brotherly and friendly country of Pakistan to combat terrorism, he concluded.
