14 Shia killed in Orakzai

Daily Times

A bomb blast killed 14 passengers, including a woman and three children, on board a pick-up in Orakzai on Wednesday, officials said, adding that the vehicle was carrying Shia passengers. "It was a remote-controlled bomb planted on the road. The bomb exploded near a pick-up van carrying passengers," senior administration official Zakir Hussain said of the incident in Sepoy village, Orakzai district. Shias have been targeted in the region for a long time, with Taliban militants exploiting Sunnis’ sentiments to gain influence in this strategic region, experts say. Eight people were killed on the spot and six died in hospital in the nearby city of Kohat, Hussain told Daily Times by phone. The dead included three women, two 11-year-old boys and a three-year-old girl, he said. All the victims were part of the same clan or same extended family. "It was a militant attack, the aim was to create panic in the area by killing ordinary people," Hussain said. He said that the victims were Shias, but ruled out a sectarian motive because it happened in a Shia-controlled area. Doctor Muhammad Naeem of Kohat District Hospital confirmed the toll and said an 11-year-old boy with serious injuries was transferred to Peshawar for specialist care. Meanwhile, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, a spokesman for the group said. "We targeted them because they were Shias, and they are enemies of Islam," Muhammed Afridi, spokesman for the Darra Adam Khel faction of the Pakistan Taliban told Reuters by telephone. Sunni militants loyal to al Qaeda and the Taliban have carried out high-profile attacks on members of the Shia community in the past. "This appears to be part of a series of attacks by militants against one particular sect," said Khushal Khan, a senior government official in Orakzai. Orakzai is one of seven districts in the tribal belt on the Afghan border that is home to Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds. Washington has dubbed the area the most dangerous region on Earth. The government ordered the military to move against the militants in Orakzai two years ago, however, the situation still remains unstable there and Taliban continue to target Shias on the main Kurram-Kohat highway through Orakzai.