DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Twenty-two people, among them suspected militants and civilians, were killed and several others wounded when military helicopters and planes pounded hideouts in different areas of South Waziristan tribal region on Friday.

Sources said that Kundi Ghar, Ziarat Zhay and Durmandi areas in Sarwakai tehsil were targeted.

They said a base camp of Mehsud Taliban (Khan Said group) in Kundi Ghar was destroyed and 13 militants were killed and eight others injured.

Know more: US drone strike kills six in South Waziristan Agency

Local residents told Dawn that the house of a suspected militant Abdul Manan Mehsud was attacked in Ziarat Zhay in which three women, four girls and two boys were killed. Another house was targeted in Durmandi area in which two minors were injured, they said. One injured child was shifted to the district headquarters hospital in Dera Ismail Khan and another to DHQ hospital in Tank.

Local MNA Jamaluddin of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl condemned the attack on residential areas and said that innocent civilians had been killed and wounded.

Earlier, the media reported that a US drone had carried out an attack in South Waziristan that left six suspected militants dead. The drone attack, however, could not be confirmed.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2015

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