dpa
Islamabad
At least 35 people were killed in a fierce gun battle amid an escalation of sectarian violence, marking one of the deadliest clashes in years in north-western Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.
The overnight fighting between armed Shiite and Sunni groups in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is seen as a response to the deadly gun attack on a convoy that left at least 42 people dead on Thursday.
"At least 35 people from the warring sides have been killed so far,” Saleem Shah, a local police official, told dpa. Another 10 people were wounded, he said.
He said that fighting was still going on and that the "situation was very tense” in the region. Hundreds of shops, houses and properties in at least five villages were torched by rival groups.
Another official from the district administration said that a meeting of tribal elders was making efforts for a peace agreement.
On Thursday, a convoy of vehicles carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan was attacked by armed men, who killed at least 42 people.
Pakistan has lost at least 55 soldiers in the first 20 days November in a series of attacks, according to Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, a think tank based in Islamabad.
Kurram is a mountainous region near the country’s border with Afghanistan, and is predominantly home to Shiite Muslims. The community faces frequent attacks by Sunni extremist groups.