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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.

Both incidents took place on Thursday in the Parachinar area of Kurram tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, the local television channel said.

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.

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.

“Most of the teachers who were killed belonged to the Turi Shia tribe,” Hyder said.

The tribal district contains a majority Shia population who are often attacked by armed groups as part of the local Taliban movement.
 
“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.

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.