By DPA,
Islamabad : At least 11 Shia Muslims were executed by a rival Sunni group in Pakistan’s Kurram agency, a volatile north-western tribal district, a tribal leader said Monday.
The beheaded bodies of eight people from the Shia tribe Toori were found dumped in Arawali and three in the Sadda area of the district, tribal chief Ali Akbar told the Geo news television channel.
However, Kurram’s administrator, Azam Khan, confirmed only eight deaths. “According to our information, eight bodies have been found so far,” he told DPA.
All those killed were abducted Friday when a food convoy they were travelling with came under attack in the Sunni-dominated area of Pir Qayyum, about 30 km south-east of Kurram’s central town of Parachinar.
Four people, including a security guard, were killed in the ambush. Later, government forces, backed by helicopter gunships, chased the attackers, killing five of them.
Kurram has been in the grip of sectarian violence since last year. Scores of people have been killed, and hundreds of families have fled the violence to an area bordering Afghanistan.