According to Reuters, gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles in a tribal area of northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 38 people dead and 29 others injured.The attack marks another instance of escalating violence in an already unstable region.
The assault took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with the gunmen specifically targeting passenger vans traveling from Parachinar in Kurram as part of a larger convoy. Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, the Chief Secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, confirmed the deadly incident, which included the tragic deaths of a woman and a child. The death toll is expected to rise, and authorities are working to identify the victims and provide support for the injured.
Ziarat Hussain, a local resident of Parachinar, recounted how two different convoys were attacked.. One convoy was traveling from Peshawar to Parachinar, while the other was heading in the opposite direction when the attack occurred. Hussain also revealed that some of his relatives were in one of the affected convoys, underlining the personal toll the attack has had on the local community.
Despite the severity of the incident, no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the violence, calling it a “cowardly and inhumane act” in a statement on X. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, also voiced his outrage, demanding that the perpetrators face justice while stressing the government’s responsibility to protect citizens from such heinous acts of violence.
The region has long been a flashpoint for violence, with tensions between armed Shia and Sunni Muslim groups exacerbated by disputes over land and control. This attack follows a similar incident in August, when 23 people were killed in Balochistan, southwest Pakistan, by militants who specifically targeted victims based on their ethnicity. Separatist movements in Balochistan have historically focused on displacing people from other regions in their efforts to secure dominance over the province.
The continuous violence has deepened concerns about the stability of the region and the ability of the Pakistani government to maintain control and security. The government has vowed to take decisive action to combat such extremist violence, but the recent wave of attacks underscores the persistent challenges posed by militant groups operating in the area. As the death toll continues to rise and more details emerge, it remains to be seen whether these violent acts will spur broader political and social change or further deepen the divide in an already fractured region.
