(Peshawar) Five teachers and two workers were shot dead in Pakistan on Thursday in an attack on a school, an incident linked to sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims, police and government officials said.
“When the two assailants entered (the school), they identified the Shiites and isolated them before opening fire,” Muhammad Imran, the Kurram district police chief, told AFP ( North West).
The attack follows the death in his car of a Sunni Muslim earlier in the day, said Muhammad Imran, adding that local authorities were in talks with the two communities to restore peace in the district.
The incidents were confirmed by Amir Nawaz, a senior government official in Parachinar, the main town in the predominantly Shia Kurram district and marred by a long history of sectarian violence.
Shia Muslims make up about 20% of Pakistan’s 200 million population.
