Global Courant 2023-05-04 18:50:00
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A shooting at a school in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday killed at least seven teachers in what appeared to be retaliation for an earlier attack in which another teacher was shot dead.
Both incidents took place in the Parachinar area of the Kurram tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, they said.
Regional authorities gave conflicting statements about the motive for the killings.
A statement from the provincial chief minister’s office said it was a property dispute, but the regional commissioner said sectarian antagonisms appeared to be the cause.
The teacher killed in the first incident was a Sunni Muslim, while those shot in the second attack on the school were Shia Muslims, the commissioner Saiful Islam said.
“It is not clear whether the second incident was in response to the first,” he said, adding that security has been heightened in an area already tense over sectarian violence.
The tribal district has a majority Shiite population that is often attacked by Sunni militant groups of the local Taliban movement. Sunni militants consider Shiites to be heretics.
Local police said they were gathering more information as they investigated the incidents. REUTERS
