WANA, Nov 25: Local Taliban militants seized and burned thousands of kilogrammes of food destined for pregnant women in a tribal area of Pakistan, officials said on Sunday.

The food, mainly lentils and cooking oil, was taken from a hospital in the district of South Waziristan and had been supplied by the aid charity Save the Children to feed pregnant women suffering from malnutrition.

A Taliban activist said they were destroyed because “foreign NGOs want to harm our future generations.” People in the deeply conservative tribal areas often oppose the presence of Western-funded non-governmental organisations on religious and cultural grounds.

An administration official, Tariq Salim, blamed health ministry officials for “mishandling” the situation, adding “this would not have happened had they consulted us before starting the distribution directly to the women.”—AFP