MIRAMSHAH, Jan 19: Scores of tribesmen on Saturday ended their three-day protest in Mirali area of North Waziristan Agency after a jirga assured them of early redressal of their grievances regarding the killing of family members in helicopter shelling.According to the protesters, helicopter gunships attacked Hasokhel, Haiderkhel and Khoshali Torikhel villages three days ago without provocation leaving two children and women each and an elderly man dead and nine injured.

The injured were shifted to the government hospital in Mirali. After the killings, the people took to the streets with the families of the shelling victims staging a sit-in in Mirali Bazaar. Also, all business centres, schools and government offices were closed.

A jirga led by Malik Raees Khan and Malik Jehan Faraz held negotiations with protesters, who ended sit-in after the jirga assured them that all their demands would be met shortly.

They, however, threatened to stage sit-in again if their demands were not accepted within four days.

They demanded the government to tender formal apology to the affected families for killings, give them proper compensation and pledge that such attacks won’t happen again. After protesters dispersed, Mirali business centres opened.—Correspondent