At least 23 civilians were killed in airstrikes in a remote border area of Pakistan, police and security sources said. A senior local police official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said aircraft targeted four houses, which were completely destroyed, without specifying who carried out the attack.
Claims and counterclaims over responsibility
A security official in Peshawar, who confirmed the death toll, said the area hosts numerous hideouts used by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). Opposition lawmaker Iqbal Afridi accused the military of launching the overnight raid as part of a counterterrorism operation. “It was the aircraft of the security forces that carried out the bombing, it is their bombings that killed 23 people,” he told AFP. There has been no official statement from the government or the armed forces.
Women and children among the dead
A senior police official in Tirah said seven women and four children were among the victims, while declining to identify the perpetrator. Tirah lies near the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, in a region where the TTP maintains a strong presence.
By this afternoon local time, about 2,000 people had gathered in a nearby town to protest the deadly raid, according to local accounts.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which says it shares the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, has in recent months intensified its violent campaign against Pakistan’s security forces in mountainous areas along the Afghan border.
CNA sourced reporting
