At least 25 killed in days of clashes between Shiites, Sunni Muslims in Pak

At least 25 people have been killed in days of clashes between armed Shiites and Sunni Muslims over a lingering land dispute in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

The clashes which started over the weekend in Kurram, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan continued on Wednesday. Officials said dozens of people from both sides have been wounded since Saturday.

Kurram has been a scene of sectarian violence in recent years.

Authorities said they were trying to prevent the land dispute from turning into sectarian violence in the restive northwest, where extremist groups from the two sides have a strong presence.

Barrister Saif Ali, a spokesman for the provincial government, said authorities with the help of tribal elders were trying to defuse tension and both sides had agreed to a cease-fire following peace talks in Kurram.

Shiite Muslims make up about 15 per cent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the two communities.

Although both live together largely peacefully in the country, tensions between them have existed for decades in some areas, especially in Kurram, where Shiites dominate in parts of the district.

Dozens of people from the two sides were also killed over the same dispute in July.