PARACHINAR, May 29: Five people were gunned down in the troubled Upper Kurram tribal region on Thursday.

According to eyewitnesses, a taxi carrying four passengers was going to Parachinar from Sadda when armed militants attacked it near Soor Pul, about 10km east of here. Driver Ibrar Hussain suffered bullet injuries and died in hospital.

The assailants took the four passengers away with them and later their bodies were found near the city. The victims belonged to the Boshara village of Upper Kurram.

The killings triggered panic in the Upper Kurram region which remains cut off from other areas with all roads blocked because of prevailing uncertainty. Local people have been facing an acute shortage of food, medicines and fuel over the past seven months and they are relying on supplies from Afghanistan.