38 killed in deadly gun attack on vehicles carrying Shiites in Pakistan

Gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan's restive northwest on Thursday, killing at least 38 people, including six women, and wounding 20 others in one of the region's deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.

The attack happened in Kurram, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites have killed dozens of people in recent months.

No one has claimed responsibility. The latest violence came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region after keeping it closed for weeks following deadly clashes.

Local police official Azmat Ali said several vehicles carrying passengers were travelling in a convoy from the city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when gunmen opened fire.

He said at least 10 passengers were in critical condition at a hospital.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack and offered his condolences to the families of the victims. He ordered the authorities to take action against those who orchestrated the attack.

Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader, denounced the assault, saying "the terrorists martyred our innocent people after identifying them".

He said the death toll from the attack was likely to rise.

Shiite Muslims make up about 15 per cent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the two communities.

Although they live together largely peacefully in the country, tensions have existed for decades in some areas, especially in parts of Kurram, where Shiites dominate.

Nearly 50 people from the two sides were also killed over a land dispute in July when clashes between Sunni and Shiites erupted in Kurram.

Pakistan is currently carrying out intelligence-based operations to tackle violence in the northwest and southwest, where terrorists and separatists often target police, troops and civilians. Most violence in these areas has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army.