<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least seven teachers have been killed in a shooting at a school in northwestern Pakistan, following a separate attack in which another teacher was shot dead, Geo TV reported.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Both incidents took place on Thursday in the Parachinar area of Kurram tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, the local television channel said.</div><div><br></div><div>It said the motive behind the killings remained unclear, and that the teachers killed in both incidents belong to the country’s Shia Muslim minority.</div><div><br></div><div>Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the “gruesome incident” took place in an area that has witnessed in the past sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni tribes.</div><div><br></div><div>“Most of the teachers who were killed belonged to the Turi Shia tribe,” Hyder said.</div><div><br></div><div>“This particular attack targeted the teachers while they were in the staffroom … They were there to conduct examinations which are under way throughout the province for lower secondary school,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The circumstances have remained “mysterious”, as not many people were able to see what had transpired, how many attackers were involved, or what their motives were, Hyder said.</div><div><br></div><div>Another teacher was gunned down earlier “not far away from that location”, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>The tribal district contains a majority Shia population who are often attacked by armed groups as part of the local Taliban movement.</div><div><br></div><div>Local police said they were gathering more information and investigating the incident. Source: Aljazeera</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>