Pakistan strikes 7-day ceasefire deal between warring sectarian groups
Deal comes after days of bitter sectarian gunfights in the country’s northwest Kurram district that have killed dozens
A Pakistani government team mediated a seven-day ceasefire deal between rival sectarian groups on Sunday, halting days of clashes that have killed at least 68 people and injured dozens in the northwest of the country, one of the mediators said.
The violence began when gunmen attacked convoys of civilian vehicles on Thursday, killing at least 40 people, mostly Shiite Muslims. That sparked retaliatory attacks against Sunni Muslim residents and there have been pitched battles between armed groups from both sides.
Armed Shiite and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalry for decades over a land dispute in Kurram district near the Afghanistan border.
“Both sides have agreed to a week-long ceasefire which is expected to be extended,” Muhammad Ali Saif, a member of the mediation team, told Reuters by phone, adding that major clashes had already stopped.
Saif, who is also the information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Kurram is located, said both sides had also agreed to exchange prisoners, including women, and the bodies of those killed in the clashes.
