PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Gunbattles between majority Sunnis and minority Shiites left at least 40 people dead and 43 wounded in remote northwestern Pakistan after men opened fire on Shiite Muslims, a Pakistani official said Saturday.

Activists of a Shiite Muslim students group chant slogans during protest rally to condemn the killing of Shiite people in Parachinar, Saturday, April 7, 2007 in Lahore, Pakistan. Gunmen opened fire on Shiite Muslims in a remote town in northwestern Pakistan, triggering gunbattles between majority Sunni and minority Shiites that left at least 30 people dead and 43 wounded, officials said. The placard on right is reading Local authorities are responsible on the killing of Shiite Muslims in Parachinar. [AP]

Arbab Mohammed Arif Khan, secretary for law and order in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal regions, said authorities had imposed a round-the-clock curfew to control the situation in Parachinar in North West Frontier province bordering Afghanistan.

"People from both sides damaged each other's property on Friday and Saturday, and sporadic clashes are still continuing there," Khan said.

The trouble began Friday when gunmen began shooting at Shiites near their mosque, according to Gul Jan, a local resident.

Some of the Shiites blamed rival Sunni Muslims and began burning Sunni-owned shops and homes, local Sunni leader Shirin Mengal said in Peshawar, capital of the province where the clashes occurred. Mengal claimed that about 400 homes and shops of Sunni Muslims had been burned by Shiites.

"Security forces found several charred bodies from some homes in Parachinar," said a security official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He added that the residents also attacked troops in area.

Khan said the authorities were seeking help from clerics from the Shiite and Sunni sects to control the situation.

Pakistan has a history of sectarian violence, and scores of people are killed in such clashes every year. Although most Sunni and Shiite Muslims live peacefully together, extremists on both sides often target each other's leaders and activists.

Residents said the town had been tense for the past several days when some Shiites briefly fought with participants of a rally organized by Sunni Muslims to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The Sunni-Shiite schism, which dates to the seventh century, centers on a debate over the prophet's true heir.