At least a dozen people were killed in tribal clashes in Parachinar, taking the death toll to more than 100 in four days of clashes. Eight people were killed and 18 were wounded when a mortar bomb exploded in a bazaar in the Kurram tribal region, residents said.
Army gun-ship helicopters pounded militant positions on the outskirts of the main town of Parachinar, killing four people. Residents said soldiers were deployed in Parachinar and nearby areas while the government prepared to send a delegation of tribal elders and clerics to bring peace to the area.
Military officials were unavailable for comment. Sectarian violence has bedevilled Pakistan since the 1980s and Kurram has a long history of such clashes. The outbreak of sectarian violence in Kurram coincided with the army's preparations for a major operation to crush a militant movement in Swat, a valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where hundreds of people have been killed in clashes with security forces in the past few weeks.
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