BAJAUR/KHYBER: Two schoolchildren were killed after a quadcopter drone, reportedly operated from an unknown location, struck a hilly area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district on Thursday.

Local residents and official sources told Dawn that the fatal incident occurred in the Shahi Thangi area, located about 25 kilometres from Khar, the district headquarters of Bajaur, around noon.

They added that the children were returning home from school when they were hit, leaving them critically wounded.

The two boys, aged 10 and 12, were immediately taken by locals to the District Headquarters Hospital in Khar for treatment. However, both were pronounced dead upon arrival, they said.

It remains unconfirmed where the quadcopter was launched from and who was responsible for the attack.

Meanwhile, sources in the local police told Dawn that they have launched an investigation into the incident to determine who was responsible and what the motive was.

The killing of two innocent schoolchildren in the strike sparked condemnation and concern among locals and political circles.

PTI MPA Dr Hamidur Rehman and Bajaur Aman Jirga chief Sahibzada Haroon Rashid condemned the incident in the “strongest terms”.

In statements shared on social media soon after the incident, both leaders called for an investigation into the attack in which the two students were martyred.

Relatives of stranded transporters end protest

Relatives of transporters stranded in Afghanistan ended their protest after receiving assurances from local authorities regarding their repatriation.

They had staged a protest on the main road leading to the Torkham border crossing on Thursday, causing severe traffic disruption.

Most transporters have remained stranded on the Afghan side of the border since its closure in October last year.

A local tribal elder, Shakir Afridi, said on the occasion that the Afghan Taliban authorities had assured a jirga that met them three weeks earlier that they had no objection to the stranded transporters returning to Pakistan, provided they were allowed entry by the Pakistani border and immigration authorities.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Transporters Association distanced itself from Thursday’s protest. Its president, Azeemullah Shinwari, insisted that the association was neither behind the protest nor consulted by the relatives of the stranded transporters.

He acknowledged that more than 600 transporters, along with nearly 900 vehicles, were anxiously awaiting a green signal from the Pakistani authorities. He added that the association was in close coordination with the relevant officials to resolve the issue amicably at the earliest.

“We believe that the issue would be resolved with negotiations”, he insisted.