Peace efforts to stop Pak sectarian clash

Tribal elders launched efforts yesterday to end bloody sectarian clashes in a Pakistani tribal area, which have claimed at least 112 lives, officials and residents said.
A 16-member tribal peace delegation arrived Monday in Parachinar, the town at the centre of the violence, to mediate between rival Sunni and Shia tribes, a tribal administration official said.
Chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said the situation was "stable" in Parachinar, the main town in the troubled Kurram tribal agency bordering Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, up to 30 more militants loyal to a pro-Taliban cleric were killed in clashes with Pakistani security forces in a remote northwest tourist valley, the army said Tuesday.
The latest deaths take the toll reported by the army from a week of fighting in the scenic Swat Valley to around 150.