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| Pakistan shrine clashes kill 17 | Pakistan shrine clashes kill 17 |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Seventeen people have been killed in fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims over a shrine in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, officials say. | Seventeen people have been killed in fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims over a shrine in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, officials say. |
| The sides exchanged rocket and mortar fire in a dispute over ownership of the shrine to 18th Century figure Syed Amir Anwar Shah in Orakzai tribal region. | |
| The violence began four days ago when clerics from the two sects tried to occupy the shrine. | |
| The latest violence has brought the official death toll to 23. | The latest violence has brought the official death toll to 23. |
| However, tribesmen in the area claim that the number of dead is higher. | However, tribesmen in the area claim that the number of dead is higher. |
| Armed volunteers | |
| There were also reports that armed groups from neighbouring tribal regions were arriving in Orakzai to aid Sunni and Shia fighters. | |
| The political administrator for Orakzai, Dr Sher Mahsud, told reporters on Friday that the government had sent Frontier Corps forces to the area to prevent further fighting. | |
| Tribal elders and religious scholars from adjoining regions were being brought in to mediate between the feuding tribes, said Dr Mahsud. | |
| Violence blamed on militants from Pakistan's Sunni and Shia communities has cost the lives of thousands of people over the past two decades. | |
| Sunni Muslims account for around 80% of Pakistan's 160m people and are the dominant group in the tribal areas, although Orakzai has a significant Shia population. | |
| The semi-autonomous tribal regions, which border Afghanistan, are heavily militarised, a legacy of the mujahideen war fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. |