Shia-sunni Divide

Over 30 killed in clashes between Druze militias, Sunni Bedouin in Syria

Clashes between local militias and clans in Syria's Sweida province have killed more than 30 people and injured nearly 100, and government forces were being sent to the area to restore order, authorities said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 37 people killed, including two children, in the clashes between armed groups from the Druze religious minority and Sunni Bedouin clans around the province. The UK-based war monitor reported that military convoys were sent to the area to reinforce security checkpoints. The observatory said the clashes had started after a series of kidnappings between both groups, which began when members of a Bedouin tribe in the area set up a checkpoint where they attacked and robbed a young Druze man. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the observatory, said the conflict started with the kidnapping and robbery of a Druze vegetable seller, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings. Syria's defence and interior ministries were deploying .

Who are Syria's Alawites? The sect facing violence after Assad's fall

Alawites, a Shia sect, ruled Syria for decades under the Assads. Now, after Bashar al-Assad's fall, they face violence as sectarian tensions escalate in the war-torn country

Death toll in Pak's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rises to 124 as gunbattle continues

Death toll in Khurram tribal sectarian violence rose to 124 with two more deaths on Saturday as a gunbattle continued between Shia and Sunni groups despite a ceasefire in Pakistan's northwestern Province Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. More than 170 people have been injured in the sectarian violence raging for the last last ten days, authorities said. Province's governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday extended an offer to Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to personally visit the disturbed area. Clashes between Alizai and Bagan tribes in the district started on November 22, after an attack on a convoy of passenger vans near Parachinar in which 47 people were killed a day earlier. Several passengers who had sustained grave injuries succumbed later, taking the death toll to 57. At least 37 people have been killed and scores injured over the last two days alone in the violence that began in Bagan Bazaar area and spread to other parts such as Balishkhel, Khar, Kali, Junj Alizai, and Maqbal. The ...

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

Indian national killed, another injured in Muscat mosque shooting incident

At least six people have been killed and 28 others wounded in a shooting at a mosque in Oman in a rare act of violence in the Gulf nation, as per reports

Iran's foreign minister warns of 'preemptive measure' against Israel

Iranian Foreign Minister stressed that the United Nations and the international community should find a political solution at an earliest before things reach a "boiling point"

If Waqf Board accepts land, it won't be decision of all Muslims: AIMPLB

He said AIMPLB and those associated with it have decided that they "will not take any land in Ayodhya"

What is the Shia-Sunni divide?

Here is the history behind the Shia-Sunni divide