Pakistan sectarian fighting restarts, breaking truce: Officials

Bitter sectarian fighting in northwestern Pakistan which killed more than 80 people last week restarted on Monday, officials said, breaching a painstakingly brokered ceasefire.

A seven-day truce between Sunnis and Shiites in Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was agreed on Sunday but "reports of tribal clashes and gunfire continue to emerge from several areas", Kurram deputy commissioner Javedullah Mehsud told AFP.

A security official stationed in Kurram who asked not to be named confirmed "clashes are ongoing" in at least three areas but said that no fresh casualties had yet been reported.

Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram -- near the border with Afghanistan -- has a large Shiite population and the communities have clashed for decades.

The latest violence began last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling under police escort were ambushed, sparking two days of gun battles.

• Truce announced after 82 killed in Pakistan sectarian clashes