More than a dozen people have died in fresh clashes between heavily armed rival tribes in Parachinar, plagued by sectarian violence, security officials said on Sunday. Sunni and Shiite tribes perched on hills in villages outside the town of Parachinar are using heavy weapons including rockets, mortars, missiles and cannons to destroy each other.
The death toll in the violence since last week reached 63 after 13 more died in clashes overnight, a security official said, requesting anonymity. Local administration chief Zaheer-ul-Islam confirmed the unrest, but declined to say how many people had been killed. "Rival tribes are using heavy weapons, there are casualties, but at the moment I cannot give the exact figure," Zaheer told AFP.
The latest clashes started on December 22, four days after the Shiite Turi and Sunni Mengal tribes signed a cease-fire agreement following weeks of fighting," Zaheer added. Shiites comprise about 20 percent of Pakistan's 160 million Sunni-dominated population but they form the majority in Parachinar.
The two sides usually co-exist peacefully, but outbreaks of sectarian violence have claimed more than 4,000 lives across Pakistan since the late 1980s. In April, about 55 people were killed in clashes in Parachinar, which has a population of around 70,000, and fighting last year between militants over a shrine left 20 dead.
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