13 more killed in Parachinar clashes

Sectarian feuding in Parachinar has killed 13 more people, a local government official said Saturday, bringing the total death toll in a recent spasm of violence to 124.

Fresh fighting broke out last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiites travelling under police escort were ambushed, killing more than 40 and sparking 10 days of battling with light and heavy weapons in Parachinar, the main town in Kurram District

A Kurram local government official put the death toll at 124 on Saturday after 13 more people were killed in the past two days. Two were Sunni and 11 Shiite, he said.

"There is a severe lack of trust between the two sides, and neither tribe is willing to comply with government orders to cease hostilities," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Kurram district -- in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the border with Afghanistan -- has a large Shiite population and the communities have clashed for decades.

"Police report that many people want to flee the area due to the violence, but the deteriorating security situation makes it impossible," he added.

A seven-day ceasefire deal was announced by the provincial government last weekend but failed to hold. Another 10-day truce was brokered Wednesday but it also failed to stymie the fighting.

A senior security official in Peshawar, also speaking anonymously, confirmed the total death toll of 124. "There is a fear of more fatalities," he said. "None of the provincial government-initiated measures has been fully implemented to restore peace."

Police have regularly struggled to control violence in Kurram, which was part of the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.