WANA: Four tribesmen were shot dead when gunmen opened fire at participants of a peace jirga in the Shektoi area of South Waziristan on Thursday, officials said.

No group immediately took responsibility for the attack, but residents claimed that commander Said Khan alias Sajna, who is affiliated with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), might have carried out the attack.

The residents said the Sajna Group had warned internally displaced persons (IDPs) a few days ago not to return to their homes, otherwise they themselves would be responsible for consequences.

Officials said that a jirga of Mehsud tribe was convened at Shektoi to work out a security plan and monitor movement of miscreants. The IDPs have recently returned to the area under a government-sponsored repatriation programme.

According to the officials, people were heading home after attending the jirga when armed men on hilltops opened fire at them. Four people were killed as a result of the firing.

The deceased have been identified as Malik Khan Wali, Jawad, Abdullah Khan and Akbar Khan. Elders of the area and several residents attended the jirga to discuss the security plan after receiving threat from militants.

People were evacuated from the area dominated by the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan in 2009 when security forces launched an operation against the TTP. So far more than 13,000 families have returned home, out of a total of over 70,000.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2016