At least 38 people were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in Pakistan. Apart from this, 29 others were injured in the incident. The incident took place in Khurram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday. This information is known from the report of the news agency Reuters.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chowdhury told Reuters that a woman and a child were among the dead. It is feared that the death toll may increase. Nadeem Aslam Chowdhury termed this incident as 'very sad' in Khurram district inhabited by ethnic minorities.
Khurram district is located in the border region of Afghanistan. The region has been the scene of land disputes between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims for decades.
“There were two passenger buses there,” Ziarat Hussain, a resident of Parachinar, the main town of Khurram district, told Reuters by telephone. One was going from Peshawar to Parachinar and the other from Parachinar to Peshawar. At such a time, armed gunmen opened fire on them.' Ziarat Hussain said that his relative was in the car of Parachinar who was leaving from Peshawar.
Following the incident, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari issued a condolence statement and strongly condemned the bus attack.
