Pakistanis clash over water, 12 hurt

PARACHINAR, Pakistan, June 19 (Reuters)- Rival Pakistani villagers battled each other for water today, using rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades after one group tried to divert an irrigation canal.

Twelve people were wounded in the fighting in the rugged Kurrum region on the Afghan border, said the region's administrator, Mohammad Salim Khan. Villagers said a child and a woman were killed but there was no official confirmation.

''Twelve people from the Malikhel clan have been admitted to the main district headquarters hospital,'' Khan said.

The fighting broke out when people of the Malikhel clan tried to divert water to their fields, and men from another clan tried to stop them, Khan said. Many of the ethnic Pashtun people who inhabit both sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border are well armed.

Pakistan has faced a shortage of water this year after light rain and snow over the past winter.

As populations and demand grows, analysts say disputes over water are likely to become more common, not only within communities but between countries.

Pakistan is already in dispute with India over rivers that begin in Indian mountains and flow into Pakistan, and is nervous about possible Afghan plans to dam rivers that flow from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

REUTERS SHB KN1617