(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Once again Taliban-Wahabbi Militant’s have violated Kurram Peace Agreement on Sunday by performing open the fire on Passenger Coach heading to Peshawar from Parachinar Kurram Agency.
Wahabbi Militants opened fire on a passenger van in a lawless northwestern Pakistani town on Sunday, killing at least 15 Shia Muslims and wounding many others, police said.
The incident took place in Hangu district, 150 kilometres southwest of Peshawar, the capital of insurgency-hit Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province.
“Militants intercepted a passenger van at Mamoo Khwar village in Hangu district and opened fire, killing 15 passengers and wounding many others,” said eye witness. The bodies and injured were shifted to hospital. Two more injured succumbed to injuries in the hospital.
Police officials said that “It seems to be a sectarian incident, as all those killed in the firing were Shia Muslims.” They said that the militants, who numbered six, fled the scene but police later launched an operation in the area and killed three rebels.
“A search operation has already been launched to arrest the remaining ones,” Police officials added.
Police spokesman Fazal Naeem also confirmed the incident and casualties in Hangu, a town that regularly suffers from sectarian violence and a Taliban-linked insurgency.
Shia Muslims in Pakistan's Kurram Agency have been facing a humanitarian crisis since November 2007, when pro-Taliban militants cut off the area from the rest of the country. Pro-Taliban groups have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims, and they appear to widen their terror campaign in major Pakistani cities.
Several Shia religious gatherings have been targeted in different parts of the country over the past few months.Shia sources say they make up one-third of Pakistan's population of nearly 160 million. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in sectarian-related incidents in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Elders Council of the six representative tribes of Kurram Agency declared this incident as clear cut violation of Kurram Peace Agreement held a month ago on February 03-2011 and demanded the Govt and grand Jirga members to punish the militants, who attacked the peaceful passengers twice after the peace accord.
They further told that for more than dozen times during last three years after agreement and truce Militants Taliban and their local supporters violated Peace Agreements by attacking Parachinar to Peshawar & vice versa Passengers vehicles as target killing but the Government and Grand Jirga did not punished the violators by taking Rs40/-million fine from violators according to Murree Agreement held in Oct s2008.
