PESHAWAR - More than 42 people were killed and 29 others injured when heavily-armed militants ambushed several vehicles carrying passengers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district on Thursday, police and local officials said.
The convoy was en route from Parachinar to Peshawar when gunmen opened fire, they added. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Javed Ullah Mehsud, the deputy commissioner of Kurram, confirmed that 45 people died in the attack on the convoy, while rescue teams rushed to assist the wounded. According to police, the attack occurred in Ochat area of Lower Kurram. The militants hiding in mountains targeted the vehicles with automatic weapons.
The intense firing left dozens of passengers dead on the spot. The death toll is likely to swell as the condition of many of the wounded is said to be serious. Rescue teams shifted the injured to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to apprehend the attackers.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the deadliest attack in the mountainous region. The president, in a statement, expressed grief over the loss of precious lives in the incident and called it a coward and inhumane act. He instructed the authorities concerned to take perpetrators of the attack on innocent citizens to the task. President Zardari prayed to Allah Almighty for peace for the departed souls and strength for the bereaved families to bear the loss. He also prayed for early recovery of the injured and emphasised the best possible medical treatment to them.
In a statement issued by the PM Office Press Wing, the prime minister ordered to bring those involved in the attack to justice.
Terming the attack on the innocent civilians, an act of barbarism, the prime minister emphasized that the enemies of the nation will fail in all their nefarious attempts to destroy the peace of the country. He vowed that the perpetrators involved in this incident will be identified and given exemplary punishment.
“The cowardly acts of the saboteurs cannot diminish the courage of the brave Pakistani nation,” he added.
The prime minister said the elements who shed the blood of innocent civilians were not worthy of being called Muslims and even humans. He prayed for the elevation of ranks of those killed in the incident in Jannah. He also prayed to Allah Almighty to grant courage to the bereaved families to bear the loss with equanimity.