Sectarian tension between Shias and Sunnis is yet another fault line, which deepened after a 2006 suicide attack on a Shia procession in Hangu

Hangu, neighbouring Orakzai, is believed to be under the control of Hakimullah Mehsud, the right-hand man of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Those parts of Hangu that border Orakzai are dominated by the Taliban.

The district also shares borders with two other Taliban strongholds, Kurram and Waziristan. Most analysts argue that if government fails to take steps to check the increasing influence of the Taliban in Hangu, the radical elements now confined to its border areas could soon expand their activities to other areas of district.