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| 27 October 2004 | Wednesday | 12 Ramazan 1425 |
10 tribesmen killed in mortar attack
PESHAWAR, Oct 26: At least 10 members of a pro-government tribal lashkar were killed and five others wounded when a village, about 7km to the northwest of Jandola in South Waziristan, came under a mortar attack on Tuesday.
Local tribesmen immediately blamed security forces for causing the deaths through an 'unwarranted artillery fire'.
Corps Commander, Peshawar, Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain ordered an inquiry to ascertain facts but denied the deaths could have been caused by misdirected artillery fire by his troops.
Locals and official sources told Dawn the tragic incident took place around noon when a group of over 80 armed tribal volunteers, accompanied by their elders, entered the Sheikh Ziarat village near Spinkay Raghzay ahead of a military search for local and foreign militants in the area.
When the volunteers were assembling and discussing the plan for the search, they were hit by a shell which landed and exploded right in their midst. Ten people died on the spot and five others were seriously wounded. Tribesmen, however, insisted the casualty was much higher.
Malik Azizullah Mehsud, a tribal notable present there, put the death toll at 17.
"The first shell hit a vehicle which killed nine people, while another shell hit another vehicle killing eight people on the spot," he claimed.
"The area was littered with charred bodies," he said, adding that more than 13 shells had been fired on them and that the locals believed the fire had come from the security forces.
The deaths of so many native tribesmen caused tension in the area with villagers attacking positions of security forces. There were no immediate reports of any casualties on the military side.
The corps commander, however, gave a different version of the incident. He told Dawn that his troops were advancing towards Kotkai village, when they spotted militants holding positions on a ridge parallel to the road.
He said his troops had directed the artillery fire on the ridge whereas the tribesmen were in a vehicle which was hit by a mortar, 400 to 500 meters away from the ridge.
"It is unbelievable and inconceivable that this kind of thing can be done by my troops. Our artillery fire was very, very accurate. There was an artillery observant who was observing the fire, I don't think they could go off the target by 500 metres," he said.
"We have launched several operations in South Waziristan and must have fired thousands of shells but this kind of thing has never happened," he said.
He said the troops were firing medium-range artillery. "Had the vehicle been hit by our artillery shell, the effects would have been devastating in a 300 by 300 meters area." However, he said, he had ordered a court of inquiry to ascertain facts and fix responsibility for the unfortunate incident.
"I don't want to go into blame and counter-blame game. Let's wait for the findings of the court of inquiry," he said.
He blamed militants for firing the mortar on the tribesmen to create misunderstanding between people and security forces.
"The lashkar was doing such a good job. They were on our side, why would our force attack our own people?" he asked.
"The militants have all kinds of weapons and could be that the tribesmen had been hit purposely by them to derail this whole operation," he said.
The commander said that his forces were facing light resistance. "The militants are retreating to the north and the west and we are chasing them. The situation is under full control," he said.
Official sources said that security forces were moving towards Kotkai, where they suspected the one-legged tribal militant commander, Abdullah Mehsud, was hiding along with scores of foreign and local militants.
Meanwhile, security forces and militants traded fire in Karwan Mianza on Monday night but there were no reports of any casualty from either side.
Militants had earlier fired mortars on security forces' positions in Spinkay Raghzay but failed to cause any damage.
Three rockets were fired at the Scouts Camp in Wana on Monday night, which missed their target and did not cause any damage.
COMPENSATION: The corps commander announced a cash compensation of Rs200,000 for each of the dead and Rs100,000 each for the five wounded.
The compensation would be paid out of the army fund while the government may announce separate cash compensation for the bereaved families.
Addressing members of the peace committee of Mehsud tribesmen here, the military commander offered his condolences and sympathized with the victims' families.
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