New Delhi: At least 30 civilians, including women and children, were reportedly killed in overnight airstrikes carried out by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Matre Dara village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Pakistani authorities have not yet clarified what the intended target was.
The attack, which reportedly began around 2 am Monday, reduced large parts of the Tirah Valley settlement to rubble, leaving dozens more injured.
According to sources and emerging reports from the ground, the PAF deployed JF-17 fighter jets during the strike, releasing at least eight LS-6 precision-guided glide bombs.
The LS-6, a Chinese-made satellite-guided munition, is engineered for long-range accuracy and is capable of hitting fixed targets with high-explosive warheads weighing up to 480 kilograms.
Despite its design for precision, the munition struck civilian homes in Tirah, causing widespread destruction and casualties, flattening structures and leaving families trapped under debris.
“All of the victims were civilians,” Amu TV and Khaama Press news agency reported, citing local sources, adding that most of the dead and wounded were women and children.
With local medical facilities overwhelmed and basic rescue tools in short supply, residents fear the death toll could climb as search teams continued to pull bodies from the debris Monday.
The lack of communication from Pakistan about the reason behind the strikes has further fuelled frustration and anger in a region long marked by the toll of military operations.
Over the past two decades, the tribal belt in Pakistan, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has repeatedly seen air and artillery strikes that have caused significant civilian casualties.
The Tirah Valley has long been home to insurgent and militant groups, including the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), Lashkar-e-Islam and small al-Qaeda-linked cells.
The Pakistani government frequently cites the presence of such groups when carrying out strikes in the region. Nonetheless, human rights organisations and local residents have repeatedly warned that these operations often put civilians at grave risk.
This March, 10 civilians, including women and children, were reported killed in an anti-militant operation in Katlang in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In another operation in the area, a drone strike reportedly killed nine unarmed members of the Gujjar shepherd community, sparking protests.
Other operations have blurred the line between militants and civilians; Pakistani authorities claimed 12 militants were killed in a separate strike in Katlang, but nine civilians also died.
Independent monitoring groups have also underscored the scale of civilian harm. UK-based Action on Armed Violence ranked Pakistan seventh globally for civilian casualties from explosive weapons in 2024 and second for deaths from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
In Tirah Valley, protests had erupted this July after stray mortar fire left several civilians dead, including a young girl, and dozens injured.
Further, the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies has reported a sharp rise in civilian casualties from militant attacks, with 55 deaths reported in February alone.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)