At least 42 people have been killed in ongoing clashes between the Madagi and Khel tribes in Kurram, a district in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials reported on Monday.

The fighting, which has involved machine guns and mortars, began several days ago, according to local reports.

The violence erupted on Wednesday when a gunman opened fire during a council meeting intended to address a longstanding dispute over farmland.

The conflict between these tribes is part of a broader pattern of intense and often violent inter-family feuds that are particularly prevalent in the mountainous northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Kurram was once part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) but was integrated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018. This administrative change aimed to bring the region into the legal and administrative framework of Pakistan, yet enforcing law and order remains a significant challenge due to the region's traditional tribal honor codes and limited presence of police and security forces. (ILKHA)