PESHAWAR: Eight people were killed and five wounded Friday when gunmen opened fire on two vehicles carrying Shia Muslims in Pakistan's Kurram tribal region in suspected sectarian violence, officials said.

The vehicles were ambushed in the Bagan town of Kurram district, near the Afghan border, and the victims “were all Shia Muslims”, a security official said.

The area has a history of sectarian clashes between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shias.

Local administration official Fazal Hussain told AFP the Shias in a three-vehicle caravan were heading from the northwestern city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“The attackers came in two vehicles. They opened fire and fled, leaving eight people dead, including a woman and a child,” he said.