Kurram: At least 33 people were killed and over 30 others received injuries in a gun attack targeting passenger vans in Pakistan's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province bordering Afghanistan, said officials. A senior official at the government-run THQ hospital, Dr. Muhammad Ishaq, in a statement to media, confirmed that 33 people lost their lives while 30 others were wounded in a gun attack carried out on passenger vans. According to Kuwait News Agency, Dr. Ishaq further said that the injured were being referred to various hospitals in the district. Initial police reports indicated that a convoy of vehicles was traveling from Parachinar to Peshawar city when unidentified armed men opened fire in the Ochat area of lower Kurram district of KPK. Security forces reached the site of the incident and shifted the dead and injured to the nearest government-run hospital. President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, strongly condemned the incident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families of the de ceased. The President stated that attacking innocent passengers is a cowardly and inhumane act, adding that those responsible for the incident should be punished. He urged that timely medical aid be provided to the injured. The incident comes a day after 12 security personnel were killed in a suicide attack targeting a check post in Bannu District of KPK, and at a time when Pakistan has witnessed a rise in terror attacks, especially in KPK and Balochistan provinces bordering Afghanistan.
