Pakistani sectarian clashes kill about 40 tribesmen PARACHINAR

Pakistani authorities tried Thursday to get warring Pashtun tribes to settle their differences after five days of clashes that have killed about 40 people, officials said. About 150 people have been killed in the Kurram tribal region since mid-November. The fighting had died down and the two sides had even agreed to a truce but it flared again at the weekend. Authorities said they were hoping peace could be restored at a jirga. “We have called a jirga, we're trying to defuse the situation,” said political administrator Zahir-ul-Islam. Military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said about 40 people had been killed in these days, he said. Troops sent to the region in November were still there but there was a limit to how much they could do, he said. “We are helping the local administration but basically it's the jirgas