Pakistan: Six folks killed at school capturing in potential retaliation for earlier instructor demise
Six folks, together with 4 lecturers and two different members of workers, have been killed in a capturing at a faculty in Pakistan.
A gaggle of gunmen stormed the federal government faculty the place college students have been taking exams.
The atrocity might have been in retaliation for an earlier assault by which one other instructor was shot lifeless on a close-by highway, officers mentioned.
The sufferer of the primary incident was a Sunni Muslim, whereas these focused within the faculty assault have been Shia Muslims, mentioned regional commissioner Saiful Islam.
Both incidents occurred within the Parachinar space of Kurram tribal district within the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.
The district has a majority Shia inhabitants who are sometimes attacked by Sunni militant teams from the native Taliban motion.
Mr Islam mentioned sectarian antagonism seemed to be the reason for the killings whereas the provincial chief minister’s workplace mentioned the shootings concerned a property dispute.
“It is not clear whether the second incident was a reaction to the first one,” mentioned the commissioner, who added that safety has been stepped up in an space already tense due to sectarian violence.
No one has but claimed accountability for the assaults and native police official Abbas Ali mentioned it was not clear in the event that they have been related.
“We are looking into all aspects, and so far we have no idea who killed the teachers,” he mentioned.
The prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, has condemned the assaults and ordered an investigation.
Earlier on Thursday, six Pakistani troopers have been killed in a shootout in North Waziristan, one other district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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The army supplied no particulars on the shootout however mentioned three militants have been additionally killed.
The area is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban – the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, because the group can also be identified – and likewise different militants. TTP is a separate group however allied with the Afghan Taliban.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 has emboldened the TTP, which has stepped up assaults throughout Pakistan, primarily concentrating on safety forces.
In latest weeks, the army has carried out a number of raids on militant hideouts within the northwest, with dozens of insurgents killed or arrested.