PESHAWAR: Suspected militants hurled grenades at a tribal meeting in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing at least four Shias and wounding two others in an apparent sectarian attack, officials said.
The attack came as a group of Shias were holding a meeting to settle a land ownership dispute in a village in Orakzai tribal district. Orakzai is one of Pakistan’s seven lawless tribal districts on the Afghan border considered to be the hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda linked militants.
“Three attackers came in a jeep and hurled four grenades on the participants of the meeting,” senior administration official Mehmood Aslam said.
“Four people were killed and two others were injured. The guards of the participants fired back and killed one of the attackers,” he said. “Apparently it was a sectarian attack. But at the moment we are not aware of the attackers’ identity or the group they were associated with,” he added.
5kg of explosives seized in raid
Islamabad: Security forces have recovered five kilogrammes of explosives, but no arrest made in a raid yesterday, Pakistani (Geo) News reported. Frontier Corps sources said that some unknown persons had planted explosives by the roadside in Dera Bugti town, in Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan, adding that security forces raided the area on information and recovered the explosives.
Agencies
