13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting: local government

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

Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram district -- in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the border with Afghanistan -- has a large Shiite population and the communities have clashed for decades.

Fresh fighting broke out last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling under police escort were ambushed, killing more than 40 and sparking 10 days of battling with light and heavy weapons.


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.