- Web Desk
- 11 Minutes ago

Death toll rises to 10 in Kurram convoy attack: police
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- AFP
- Jan 17, 2025

PESHAWAR: The death toll from an ambush on a Pakistan convoy bringing supplies to a region besieged by sectarian fighting rose to 10 on Friday, police said, while up to six drivers have been kidnapped.
The Thursday ambush targeted a convoy of 33 vehicles set to resupply local traders in the northwest Kurram region with rice, flour and cooking oil, and two aid vehicles carrying essential medicine.
Kurram has been wracked by Sunni-Shiite violence for decades, but around 150 people have been killed in a fresh round of fighting which started in November and largely cut off the region to the outside world.
A local police officer speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP those killed in the ambush “include two security personnel, four drivers… and four civilians”.
“Additionally, there are reports that five to six drivers have been abducted by a local tribe,” he said, adding that six militants had been killed in a counter-attack.
An earlier toll reported Thursday said only one member of the security forces had been killed.
The local government of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and tribal leaders have touted numerous truces between the warring communities but none have stopped the violence.
“The situation in the area is extremely volatile,” said a local government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
The most recent peace deal was announced on January 1 but just days later an aid convoy en route to the area was also attacked, wounding several local officials and members of their security escort.
A helicopter carrying a peace envoy from the provincial government to broker negotiations between the tribes has also previously come under fire.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country but Shiites make up between 10 and 15 percent of the population.
The communities live side-by-side in Kurram, but feuding is regularly resparked over land disputes before igniting along sectarian divides.
The current round of violence started in November when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling under police escort were ambushed, with 40 people killed.
