Pakistan authorities on Sunday clamped curfew on a Pakistani town following sectarian clashes between rival Sunni groups that left at least six people and 16 more injured, dpa reported.
The clashes erupted on Saturday when gunmen opened fire on a rally by the Brelvi sect of the Sunni Muslims to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Mohammad in Paharpur area of Dera Ismail Khan district.
Following the incident, the angry crowd of Brelvi Muslims attacked a seminary of a Deobandi sect of Sunni Muslims, ensuing gunfights that continued for hours.
Ihsan Ullah, a senior police officer, said four people died on Saturday while two injured succumbed to their injuries on Sunday morning. Sixteen more people were injured.
The authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in various parts of the district while the police and paramilitary troops were patrolling the streets.
The security forces have arrested around 100 members of the both groups.
The similar clashes between Brelvi and Deobandi Muslims occurred in Faisaladad, a metropolitan in the eastern Punjab province on Saturday and continued by Sunday midday.
Six people were injured in the running gun battles between the groups while the protesters set a blaze several vehicles and the building of a police station in Ghulam Muhammadabad area.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik held emergency meetings with the leaders of the rival Sunni sects in the southern city of Karachi as an effort to stop the violence spreading to other parts of the country.
Sectarian clashes kill six in north-western Pakistan
