Tribal clashes leave 26 dead in Pakistan
Peshawar, 28 March (AKI/DAWN) - Clashes between two groups led by rival Muslim clerics in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have left 26 people dead and many more injured, according to commercial Pakistani network GeoTV. Followers of two religious leaders Mufti Munir Shakir and the Afghan Pir Saifur Rehman, were involved in gunbattles in the Khyber agency, some 12 km from Peshawar. The violence between the two rival tribes was started Monday afternoon and continued throughout the night. The heavily fortified US consulate in Peshawar was closed Monday and its staff moved to Islamabad.
Armed tribesmen attacked the house of a local supporter of the Afghan cleric, and shot dead at least 18 people before setting the house alight on Tuesday, witnesses and intelligence officials said.
"Dead bodies are still lying there and paramilitary troops have sealed off all roads leading to that place," Mohammed Nisar Afridi, vice president of a local trade union, told the Reuters newsagency.
The Pakistani tribesmen had also taken an unknown number of people hostage, including women and children, an intelligence official was quoted as saying.
Many of those killed in the clashes were Uzbek Afghans, though there was no official confirmation of the nationalities of those killed.
The heavily-protected US Consulate in Peshawar was closed on Monday due to security reasons, a senior police official confirmed to Pakistan daily Dawn.
There has been mounting tension in the area in recent months as both clerics have used pirate radio stations to air their religious beliefs and denounce their rivals as heretics.
Authorities in the Khyber agency had expelled both preachers during the past few weeks, but the radio broadcasts continued to stir up bad feeling between the two groups.
Millions of Afghans fled to Pakistan during more than two decades of conflict in their homeland dating back to the Soviet occupation in 1979. Pir Saifur Rehman has lived in the Khyber region for decades.
Armed tribesmen attacked the house of a local supporter of the Afghan cleric, and shot dead at least 18 people before setting the house alight on Tuesday, witnesses and intelligence officials said.
"Dead bodies are still lying there and paramilitary troops have sealed off all roads leading to that place," Mohammed Nisar Afridi, vice president of a local trade union, told the Reuters newsagency.
The Pakistani tribesmen had also taken an unknown number of people hostage, including women and children, an intelligence official was quoted as saying.
Many of those killed in the clashes were Uzbek Afghans, though there was no official confirmation of the nationalities of those killed.
The heavily-protected US Consulate in Peshawar was closed on Monday due to security reasons, a senior police official confirmed to Pakistan daily Dawn.
There has been mounting tension in the area in recent months as both clerics have used pirate radio stations to air their religious beliefs and denounce their rivals as heretics.
Authorities in the Khyber agency had expelled both preachers during the past few weeks, but the radio broadcasts continued to stir up bad feeling between the two groups.
Millions of Afghans fled to Pakistan during more than two decades of conflict in their homeland dating back to the Soviet occupation in 1979. Pir Saifur Rehman has lived in the Khyber region for decades.
posted by Marko at 3/28/2006 08:47:00 AM
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