More than 20 gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks carrying food supplies to Pakistan’s volatile Kurram district, killing six people and looting the vehicles, officials reported Tuesday.
The convoy, traveling with an armed escort to Parachinar – a town in Kurram that borders Afghanistan – was targeted by the attackers, who opened fire on security forces guarding the trucks.
One truck driver was killed, and seven others were injured. Five soldiers from a paramilitary unit were also killed in an ambush.
The attackers set three border force vehicles on fire, according to an anonymous police officer who spoke to the Agence France-Presse (AFP). A total of 15 people, including a female bystander, were injured in the attack.
Helicopter gunships were deployed to target hideouts in the mountainous region following the assault.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government and tribal leaders have attempted several cease-fires, all of which have failed. To reduce the violence, key roads in and out of the district remain closed.
A recent peace agreement, announced on Jan. 1, was short-lived after an aid convoy heading to the area was attacked just days later. Several local officials and security members were injured.
The ongoing conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the region, rooted in decades-old tensions over farmland, continues to fuel violence.
Shiite communities are especially vulnerable as they must pass through Sunni-majority areas to access essential services.
