Pakistan locks down area, quells unrest

Pakistani soldiers and helicopter gunships enforced a security lockdown yesterday in a tribal area where nearly 100 people have died in three days of bloody sectarian clashes, residents said.
Streets were deserted and shops, schools and offices closed down under an indefinite curfew after a weekend of violence that saw rival Sunni and Shia Muslim tribesmen shooting at each other from across rooftops.
The scale of the unrest has exposed the deep tribal and religious tensions in this mountainous region bordering Afghanistan, where guns and weaponry -- including rocket-launchers and mortars -- are in plentiful supply.
People in Parachinar, the main town in Kurram district where the fighting was concentrated, faced shortages of electricity and drinking water supplies after wires were badly damaged in the shelling.
"The whole of the city looks like a desert," one resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the tensions.
"Everywhere is closed, the bazaar is closed -- only the army is moving on the streets."
The final death toll may exceed 100 as dead bodies were still lying in some houses and people could not emerge because of the curfew, a security official told AFP.
"The situation in Parachinar area has improved," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. "There was no fighting this morning and clashes have stopped."