HANGU: A mortar attack killed at least six people, including women and children, in northwest Pakistan on Friday as Shia Muslims marked Ashura, the holiest day in their calendar, police said.

The attack also wounded eight others, police said.

Mortars slammed into two houses in Hangu, a town that has been a flashpoint for sectarian clashes between Pakistan's Shia and Sunni Muslim communities.

They were fired from the neighbouring district of Orakzai, part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas with Afghanistan.

“Mortars were fired from Orakzai and hit two houses in Hangu. Six people were killed and eight injured,” Gul Jamal, a local police official, told AFP.

Fazal Naeem, a police spokesman, confirmed the attack and the toll.

“There were two children and a women (among the dead). The dead include both Shias and Sunnis,” he told AFP.