Gunmen Kill Eight in Ambush of Pakistan Shiites

Eight people were killed and five wounded Friday when gunmen opened fire on two vehicles carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan's lawless tribal region in suspected sectarian violence, officials said.

The vehicles were ambushed in Bagan town of Kurram district, near the Afghan border, and the victims "were all Shiite Muslims", a security official said.

The area has a history of sectarian clashes between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites.

Local administration official Fazal Hussain told Agence France Presse the Shiites were heading in a three-vehicle caravan from the northwestern city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

"The attackers came in two vehicles. They opened fire and fled, leaving eight people dead, including a woman and a child," he said.

Khalid Umarzai, another senior administrative official, confirmed the incident and said the attackers also kidnapped over 20 Shiites traveling in three coaches before fleeing.

Entrenched militants oppose jobs and education for women in the deeply conservative tribal region of Kurram, which has for five years been a flashpoint for violence between Shiite and Sunni communities.

Shiites account for some 20 percent of Pakistan's mostly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million.

More than 4,000 people have died in outbreaks of sectarian violence between the groups since the late 1980s.