DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A child was killed and two others suffered serious injuries in a landmine explosion in the Sarwekai sub-division of South Waziristan Agency, officials said on Saturday.

The children were playing outside their home in Salopangha village when they hit the landmine. As a result of the explosion, a child died on the spot while others were injured.

They were shifted to a hospital in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency.

South Waziristan Poli­tical Agent Zafarul Islam Khattak while confirming the incident said the administration would give financial compensation to the families of the deceased and the injured children.

Locals said that during the past three years at least 66 people, including women and children, had been killed and many others injured and maimed in mine explosions in areas dominated by the Mahsud tribe after the temporarily displaced people returned to their homes.

Meanwhile, authorities have imposed a curfew in the far-off Bobar mountainous area and directed the residents of at least seven villages to move out and vacate the region.

The locals said that the curfew had been clamped two days ago, adding that people were moving out of the area and heading towards Chagmalai via the Spinkai Raghzai route.

They said that in the absence of roads and vehicles, tribal people were using camels and donkeys or going on foot to reach Chagmalai where security forces boarded them on vehicles and transported them to the Bakakhel camp in North Waziristan Agency.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2017