MIRAMSHAH/BANNU, Oct 10: Over 60 victims of Tuesday’s air attacks on two villages near Mirali in North Waziristan were buried on Wednesday, amid reports that security forces dropped pamphlets from planes asking fleeing people to return to their homes.
“Security forces will not use heavy weapons like missiles, artillery and rockets on residential areas. You should return to your homes,” one of the pamphlets read.
Tension prevailed in the Mirali tehsil although troops on the request of tribesmen suspended attacks on suspected militant hideouts. The elders had urged the authorities to stop shelling the area because they had to bury the dead.
Eyewitnesses said that people of several villages had left their homes after the air strikes and artillery shelling. They said that a large number of families were heading towards Bannu district.
Security forces cordoned off main roads in the troubled region where, according to officials, over 150 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and militants over the past four days. About 60 security personnel lost their lives in the bloody conflict.
Residents said that 50 bodies had been laid to rest in Ipi, 20 in Haiderkhel and three in Zairaki villages which were bombed on Tuesday. They said the intense air strikes and artillery fire had turned most of the Ipi village into rubbles. Fighter jets had bombed Ipi and adjoining areas, with 12 bombs dropped on a village market.
Locals claimed that innocent people had been killed in the attack.
Sources said that militants, including top commander Eid Niaz Borakhel, had been killed in air strikes on the Hasukhel village. He was buried in Miramshah on Tuesday.
Many of the wounded were taken to hospitals in Bannu and Peshawar.
Doctors said that 165 wounded had been treated in the Bannu district hospital. Besides, 85 people who had suffered minor injuries were discharged after first aid and 60 critically wounded persons, including women and children, were admitted.
The witnesses said that a large number of families were streaming out of Ipi, Haiderkhel, Mosaki, Hurmaz, Hasukhel, Barokhel, Milagan, Zairaki and Esori villages of Mirali and moving to Bannu and other settled districts.
The Jamaat-i-Islami has set up three camps in Bannu where about 200 displaced people are being provided temporary shelter, an organiser of the camp said.
Unconfirmed reports said that thousands of people had left their homes in Mirali. They are facing shortage of food.
“I along with my family walked from Mirali and reached Bannu in four hours,” said a journalist. He said that Mirali town had been under siege for four days. Officials said that relief organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross and Pakistan Red Crescent Society were supposed to be there to assist the displaced families.
