At least 42 people have died in sectarian violence in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Gunmen open fire on buses carrying Shia pilgrims in Kurram, where clashes with Sunnis have escalated in recent months.

Gunmen have opened fire on convoys of Shia pilgrims in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 42 people, according to authorities in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Women and children were among the victims of attacks in Kurram tribal district on Thursday, police said on Friday.

Sectarian violence has escalated since July in Kurram, a region bordering Afghanistan, between Shia and Sunni tribes over land disputes.

Gunmen opened fire on two separate convoys of Shia pilgrims traveling under police escort in Kurram. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Javedullah Mehsud, deputy commissioner of Kurram, said the attacks took place when the convoys were on their way from Parachinar district headquarters to Peshawar.

Mehsud told Al Jazeera on Friday that all the bodies had been recovered and the funerals would take place later in the day.

Police said 20 people were injured.

“We also managed to recover 26 people belonging to the Shia community last night, including women and children, who were held hostage by the Sunni groups,” Mehsud said.

Ajmeer Hussain, 28, survived the attack.

“Gunfire suddenly broke out and I started reciting my prayers, thinking these were my last moments,” Hussain told the AFP news agency.

“I laid down at the feet of the two passengers sitting next to me. Both were hit by multiple bullets and died on the spot,” he said.

“The shooting lasted about five minutes.”

Condemning the attacks, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said: “Enemies of peace in the country have attacked a convoy of innocent citizens, an act that amounts to sheer brutality.”

Mehmood Ali Jan, a local tribal elder, told Al Jazeera that locals are angry with the authorities, especially law enforcement, who were supposed to provide security for the convoys but failed to do so.

“People are planning to gather in Parachinar to protest against the security forces,” Ali Jan said.

The attacks came days after at least 20 soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the province. In October, 11 people were killed in tribal clashes in Kurram.

Kurram has a long history of sectarian fighting between Shia and Sunni groups. More than 2,000 people were killed in the deadliest period of violence between 2007 and 2011.

The mountainous region adjacent to Afghanistan’s Khost, Paktia and Nangarhar provinces has also become a hotspot for armed groups, with frequent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and ISIL (ISIS).

Earlier this month, thousands of people gathered for a peace march in Parachinar, urging the government to increase security for Kurram’s 800,000 residents, more than 45 percent of whom belong to the Shiite minority.

Commenting on Thursday’s attacks, Mehsud said: “There is naturally a lot of anger and rage among the people of the area… This was a land dispute which has now turned into a tribal-sectarian rift, but we have the support full of tribal elders. not only from Kurram but from other areas as well.”

The authorities cannot rule out the presence of militants in this attack, he said, but investigations continue.