At least 41 people – including women and children – were killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying 200 people in a remote area of Pakistan.
The vehicles were attacked while passing through the Kurram tribal region of Pakistan, near the Afghan border, according to the deputy commissioner of police in the area.
The gunmen first targeted the police who were escorting the procession, said the spokesperson of the province in a statement.
The police were protecting the procession following months of sectarian violence in the area, which has claimed many lives this year.
Police told the BBC that 41 people were killed in Thursday's incident and 16 others were seriously injured.
Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told Reuters news agency that the attack was “a huge tragedy”, and the death toll “may rise”.
Saeeda Bano – who was in the middle of the convoy – told BBC Urdu how she feared she would be killed as she hid under the car seats with her children when she was attacked.
When the gunfire finally stopped after a few minutes, he saw wounded people and dead bodies lying on the street.
Details of what happened are still emerging, but Javed ullah Mehsud, a senior administration official, told AFP “about 10 assailants” were involved, “shooting indiscriminately on both sides of the road”.
Women and children were hiding in nearby houses, while the police hunted for the attackers, he added.
Most of the passengers on the convoy in the mountainous area were Shia, he said in an earlier statement.
Sunni and Shia Muslim nations have clashed several times this year. The previous series of attacks ended after the national council called for a ceasefire, according to Reuters news agency.
Last month, there was another attack on passenger cars on the road in the region and 15 people died.
The road that was used on Thursday was reopened a few days ago, as many people were walking under the protection of the police.
Sectarian violence is often linked to land conflicts in the region.
However, Kurram, in northwestern Pakistan, also borders several Afghan provinces that are home to anti-Shia groups, including the Islamic State group and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
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