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The Financial Express

Explosion kills six of a family in Pakistan

| Updated: January 31, 2018 12:40:01


Reuters photo used for representational purpose Reuters photo used for representational purpose

Six members of a family have been killed and another one has been injured after an explosion ripped through their car on Tuesday.

Officials said that they were heading towards a Pakistan village to attend a funeral in the north-western district of Kurram near the Afghanistan border.

Three women and three men died on the spot while one survivor was in stable condition at a local hospital, said local government official Akbar Iftikhar.

It was unclear whether the blast was a landmine or a roadside bomb planted by Islamist militants, Reuters reported citing the official.

Kurram is one of the seven districts along the Afghan border in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which have long been home to local and foreign Islamist militants.

Kurram is a predominantly minority Shiite Muslim region that is often targeted by Sunni militant groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The six family members, however, belonged to Sunni sect, Iftikhar said.

The region has lately been the target of suspected US drone strikes, which mainly took out members of Haqqani militant network that is allied with Afghan Taliban and operates on both sides of the border.

The Haqqanis have been at the centre of the current tensions between the United States and Pakistan.

Washington alleges that Islamabad supports the Haqqani militants, who attack the US and allied NATO troops in Afghanistan.

 

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