SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Helicopter gunships carried out shelling on militant hideouts in Manra area of Birmal tehsil, Lower South Waziristan, on Thursday.
The militants retaliated by firing rockets at the security forces.
According to police sources, the militants managed to flee during the exchange of fire. However, a local councillor, Ashrafa BiBi, wife of Maulana Noor Zaman, was caught in the crossfire and sustained serious injuries. She was being shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Wana, but she succumbed to her wounds on the way. Her body was later handed over to relatives after postmortem.
The local government representatives strongly condemned the incident, terming it a tragic loss, and demanded a transparent inquiry into the circumstances leading to her death. They also urged the authorities to announce a martyr’s compensation package for the councillor.
It is worth mentioning that only a day earlier, on Wednesday, heavy exchange of fire between security forces and militants in the Azam Warsak area of Birmal tehsil had left four people injured, including two women and two children.
On the other hand armed men on Thursday abducted a youth named Abid from Azam Warsak Bazaar in Birmal tehsil. Police sources said the assailants forcibly took the boy away on a motorcycle to an undisclosed location.
Soon after the incident, police cordoned off the area and launched an investigation.
Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2025
