Cross border shelling: Bajaur incursion kills girl child, injures two

Six-year-old Asma was killed when shells struck her house.

KHAR:

A six-year-old girl was killed while a woman and her nine-year-old son were injured when shells fired by militants from across the Afghan border hit houses in the Charmang area of Bajaur Agency on Monday.

The shells hit two houses in Hilal Khel Border village in late afternoon, killing six-year-old Asma and injuring one Haya Bibi and her son Inamullah, said a security force official.



The injured were taken to the hospital in critical condition, added the official.



Talking to The Express Tribune, Nosherwan Khan, an administration official at Agency Headquarters Hospital said that the injured were put under the care of Dr Abdul Hadi, who was the only surgeon available in the entire agency.

Critical condition

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Hadi said that the injured woman was carried straight into the operation theatre and was fatally wounded on the chest while her leg bones were harmed by shell fragments.

Young Inamullah was struck in the abdomen, while his arteries were severely damaged, added the doctor, referring both patients to a hospital in Peshawar.

Victims hit by cross border shelling and IED explosions in the agency are received every month, said Dr Hadi.

Most of the victims are unable to fully recover, remain marred for life, and often die on the way to the hospital.

The greatest challenge is to curb the profuse bleeding of such a victim, said Dr Hadi.

Cross border shelling is now a widespread phenomenon in the country’s tribal areas.

On Sunday, five people were killed when mortar shells fired from Afghanistan landed in South Waziristan Agency.

On November 7, a woman was killed and a man injured when shells from across the border landed on houses in North Waziristan.

A senior official said that protests have already been lodged against frequent border incursions in the tribal areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2012.