KURRAM: As intermittent battles persisted on Tuesday, officials told Dawn that the dead toll from a week of unrest in Kurram had risen to 76.
Since around 40 passengers in a convoy of vehicles were massacred in a devastating ambush in the Mandori Charkhel area of Lower Kurram district last Thursday, retaliatory attacks have claimed three more lives.
21 people were killed in gunfights and arson in Bagan village, Lower Kurram, two days after the attack.
Despite a shaky ceasefire mediated by the government between the warring parties on Sunday, clashes have persisted ever since.
Officials said that fighting in the Ghozaghari, Matasanagar, and Kunj Alizai localities persisted on Tuesday.
Three persons were killed and six injured in the battle.
Authorities further informed Dawn that the criminals based in the villages of Chardeval and Jalmay in the Alizai region of Lower Kurram had attacked three gunship helicopters. But as of yet, no casualties have been reported.
A great jirga made up of elders from the districts of Hangu, Orakzai, and Kohat would travel to the area riven by violence for new mediation aimed at putting an end to the fighting, Kurram Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud informed Dawn.
The jirga will be headed by the commissioner of the Kohat division.
Dr. Mir Hassan Khan, the district headquarters hospital’s medical superintendent, said Dawn that there is a lack of medications as a result of the routes leading to Parachinar being closed.
He claimed that “people are losing their lives” and that the lack of medications was making it harder for medical professionals to treat injured patients.
An elder from the Hamzakhel hamlet, Mahmood Khan, blamed the provincial government for the increase in violence and claimed that shortly after mediating the ceasefire on Sunday, all of the key officials departed for Islamabad.
