Three killed as mortar hits tents of nomads in South Waziristan

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An image of mortar shell from November 19, 2024. — AFP/File
An image of mortar shell from November 19, 2024. — AFP/File

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Three persons were killed, and six were injured in separate mortar shell and suspected quadcopter attacks here on Tuesday, police and district administration officials said.

A senior official told Dawn on the phone that two women and a young girl of a nomadic family were killed and three others sustained injuries after a mortar shell landed on a tent camp in the Ahmadwam area of Sararogha tehsil.

Police sources said the mortar shell was fired from an unknown direction and struck a cluster of tents set up on the riverbank, where nomadic families were temporarily residing. The explosion caused multiple casualties among the occupants of the camp and spread panic in the area.

The deceased were identified as Gul Makai Bibi, Gor Gora Bibi and a young girl. The injured included 65-year-old Suleman Shah, eight-year-old Niaz Bibi and five-year-old Raz Mohammad. The injured were shifted to Razmak Hospital in North Waziristan.

Police officials said it was not immediately clear from where the mortar shell had been fired. The attack came a day after a religious scholar, Mufti Jana Mir Mastikhel Wazir, died in a bomb explosion at a supermarket in Rustam Bazaar in Wana, the headquarters of Lower South Waziristan.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a suspected quadcopter attack was reportedly carried out in the Chalweshtai area of Ladha tehsil. A senior administration official confirmed the incident and said that, according to initial information, Taimoor, 10, Tanveer, 10, and Gul Rahman, 60, sustained injuries. One of the injured children was shifted to a private clinic in Sam Market for medical treatment.

Following the incident, residents and elders staged a demonstration in front of the Sam Brigade camp.

The protest concluded peacefully with the participants announcing that a consultative meeting would be held on August 11 to formulate a strategy to prevent such incidents in the future.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2026

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