At least 49 people have been killed and 115 injured in week-long sectarian clashes in Pakistan tribal region, a senior security official said on Thursday.

Arbab Muhammad Arif, Secretary of Security for Federally Administered Tribal Areas, told a news conference that normalcy has been restored in many parts of Kurram Agency, according to the private news agency News Network International.

Tension has been brewed since April 1 when a group of people took out a procession in Parachinar, the center of Kurram agency and some 290 km west of Pakistani capital Islamabad, and chanted slogans against their rivals.

Clashes started on April 6 between two religious groups in Parachinar, and since then, curfew without intervals has been imposed.

Authorities have sent troops to maintain peace there.

Arif said that a peace jirga or council of elders has started dialogue with rival factions in Parachinar to broker a ceasefire.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2007)