By DPA,
Islamabad : Thirteen people died Sunday in an ambush on a van, following shootout between security forces and assailants in northwestern Pakistan, police said.
The incident took place in Hangu district, 100 km southwest of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Abdul Rashid, the district police chief, said that the attackers opened fire on the van heading from the Kurram tribal region to Peshawar.
“Eight civilians died at the spot while two of the seven injured succumbed to their injuries at the hospital,” he said, claiming that police who gave chase to the fleeing gunmen killed three of them.
The road between Kurram and Peshawar was reopened recently after rival Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribes agreed on a peace deal that ended four years of fighting. Hundreds were killed in the battles.
Rashid said most of those killed were Shiites.