PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A land mine explosion killed four people and wounded a number of others in northwest Pakistan’s restive Kurram district on Wednesday, police said.
The blast occurred when one of the victims stepped on the device in a forested area in Kurram.
Habibullah Khan, the district police officer, said the dead and a number of wounded were transported to a hospital in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. He did not say how many people had been wounded.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast and Khan said they are investigating the incident in Kurram, which has a history of sectarian conflict between Sunni and minority Shiite groups.
A ceasefire brokered by local elders has largely held between Sunni and Shiite tribes in Kurram since January. Although sporadic gun attacks between the two sides are not uncommon in the region, land mine blasts are rare.
Shiite Muslims dominate parts of Kurram, although they are a minority in the rest of Pakistan, which is majority Sunni. The area has a history of sectarian conflict.
