**Gunmen in north-west Pakistan have attacked a group of Shia students, killing at least four in a sectarian attack, officials and witnesses say.**The students were walking to school in the Orakzai tribal region when they were fired upon by suspected militants.
A local tribal force later clashed with the suspected militants. Witnesses said more villagers were joining the militia and the battle was escalating.
Sunni militants have carried out frequent attacks on minority Shias.
Sunni Muslims account for around 80% of Pakistan’s population and are the dominant group in the tribal areas, although Orakzai has significant Shia numbers.
The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that hardline Sunni Taliban consider Shias heretics.
Tribal force
The attack took place near a secondary school in the Utmankhel area, near the town of Kalaya.
Witnesses said that the local tribal militia subsequently chased the militants and engaged them in battle.
As the clash intensified there were reports that heavy weapons were being used against the insurgents.
Local residents say that hundreds of militants have hideouts in the hills around Kalaya town.
The area has served as a base for Hakimullah Mehsud, a militant commander from South Waziristan who has recently replaced Baitullah Mehsud as the head of Pakistan’s Taliban.
in jehadyoun ko kuch sharam hay ke nahin? Have they forgotten that in war, women and children are not to be touched?
I hope JI and JUI will condemn this barbarian act of jehadis. Yeh donon jamaatain manafiqon ka kirdar adaa kar rahin hain. They should come out open condemning these jehadis and give sermons in mosques to get rid of these bustards in every corner of Pakistan.
^ I don’t think these pigheads have any sense of humanity at all. The good thing is that local shia minority has joined the Qoumi Lashkar to get them out of Orakzai. And seems 6 of them have been exterminated by helicopter shelling.
first they tried to kill the minister and now they have attacked shia students, these fasadies are playing their last tricks, doom to them and to those who fund and arm these fasadies...
When we the Sunni majority realize that we must protect our minority groups, be they Shia, Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus etc.
When will that aaha moment occur that we realize that such incidents make us look pathetic and Pakistan gets disrespected.
And above all, we as a majority group lose our position in the court of Allah swa. How would we answer Allah on the day of judgement that small groups were given in our protection, and instead of providing them care and love, we robbed them, killed them, raped them, and murdered their youth?
The biggest factor in all this is simple. Pakistanis have not matured enough to realize that Pakistan must always be #1. No religion, or ethnicity should ever be allowed to negate our commitment to Pakistan and fellow Pakistanis.
Alas, that will not happen and we will continue to be slaves of sectarian religious ideologies being imported form Saudi and Iran.
Truly Sad.
May Allah give the slain students a place in Jannat, and give patience and subr to their families.
This is misleading to say the least...no where from the news report can it be deduced that the students were targeted because they were shia...Furthermore, shias in Pakistan have the same proportionate level of influence over matters of Pakistan as Jews do in America, may be even more...why don't the shias in the places of influence do something about the supposed mal-treatment of their co-religionists in Pakistan...Two of the three most popular political parties have predominant shia top cadre, most of the media is also dominated by shias and many an intellectual, academics and writers happen to be shia...They all must be asleep or self-hating shias to sitting idly and aiding and abetting the persecution of shias in Pakistan...
