One soldier was martyred while four others injured when a convoy of vehicles carrying food and medical supplies to Parachinar was attacked at the Bagan area in Lower Kurram on Thursday, officials confirmed.
Clashes stemming from decades-old land disputes have claimed at least 130 lives since November, with food and medicine shortages reported due to weeks-long road blockades.
A peace agreement was signed on January 1, but the route connecting Parachinar remained blocked. On January 4, a government convoy was attacked near Bagan, injuring Kurram’s deputy commissioner and leaving the convoy stranded.
On Monday, Adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said that under the peace agreement, the demolition of bunkers had begun in Kurram district.
Later on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the situation in Kurram was “returning to normal” as 25 vehicles of a second convoy carrying essentials reached the district.
Hangu Assistant Commissioner Saeed Mannan confirmed on Thursday that the convoy comprising 35 vehicles had left from Thall and was on its way to Parachinar when it came under fire.
“The administration is working to bring the situation under control after the attack in Bagan,” AC Mannan said.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Shaukat Ali said that three vehicles were damaged in the attack.
Six terrorists were killed and ten injured in the retaliatory attack, the ADC said.
Sajid Turi, a former federal minister from Kurram, said small and large weapons are being used in the ongoing attack.
Senior police official Sahaib Gul confirmed to AFP that 21 following the attack, 21 trucks retreated from the area, while others remained stranded.
Additionally, intense gunfire erupted at two other locations after the incident and it is still ongoing, Gul said, adding that some trucks had “caught fire” as a result of the ambush.
Kurram deputy commissioner Muhammad Ashfaq Khan told AFP “firing is ongoing” outside Thall.
More to follow
